Delicate Flowers
by fanwriter1245
Summary: Single mother Noa Kaneko meets Yuki Sohma when he has an asthmatic fit. What she doesn't know is how complicated the Sohma family is and how much helping the sick boy will change her life. Years later, she meets the infamous head of the family and isn't impressed with what she finds. But it may be that this woman is just what both Yuki and Akito need.
1. Chapter 1

**So I know I'm a little late to this fandom...*cough cough* twenty years late...BUT I am here now! I watched the Fruits Basket anime and thought it was only okay and only decided to read the manga because all 23 volumes were at my library. I had no idea I was going to become so engrossed in the beautiful, heart-wrenching story. By the end, I was stunned by how much I actually enjoyed it.**

 **As much as I hated Akito at first, once I finished the story, Akito had become my favorite character. The entire character was so beautifully complex, and I ADORE complex characters not to mention the incredible character development.**

 **I wanted so direly to see a story where Yuki and Akito gained a "mother figure" in their lives, but alas, I came up short. So, behold, here is that story.**

* * *

While Noa put out some laundry in the yard to dry, she turned towards the gate that surrounded the grassy lawn when she heard someone coughing and gasping for breath.

The source of the noise was a very young boy with silvery hair who appeared to be no older than eight years old.

Abandoning the clean sheets in favor of helping the child, she pulled open the gate and slowly approached him.

"Hey, are you lost?" she asked kindly. "Where are your mom and dad?"

The boy only coughed in response.

Noa knelt down in front of him. "You look terrible."

She went to place her hand on his forehead, but he quickly moved away from her before she could touch him.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said gently as she smiled.

"It's not that," the boy wheezed. "When girls touch me…bad things happen."

Noa didn't know exactly what he meant by that, but she wasn't about to just do nothing when a small child was one breath away from needing to go to the hospital. While the boy looked away from her, she quickly reached out to hold his face in her hands and make him meet her eyes.

"See?" she smiled. "Nothing happened." She lost her smile and looked at him in concern. "But you're burning up. I think you're running a fever." She took into account all his coughing and her brow furrowed. "Do you have asthma?"

The boy nodded and coughed again.

"Okay, why don't you come inside with me? I'll help you feel a little better, and then I'll go about finding where you live so we can get you home."

She stood up and held out her hand. The boy only looked at her in fear.

"Oh, my son is home. Don't worry, we're not going to do anything. I just want to help you, okay?"

Ever so slowly, the boy took her outstretched hand.

Noa smiled and began to walk back inside. "What's your name?"

"Um, Yuki. Yuki Sohma."

"It's very nice to meet you. My name is Noa Kaneko. You can just call me Noa, okay?"

Noa opened the door to her home and allowed Yuki to step inside before her.

"Yuta?" she called.

Her 14-year-old son hurried down the steps. "Yeah, Mom?"

"This is Yuki. He's having a fit with his asthma. Will you get him set up in the guest room for me?"

"Yeah, sure!"

Noa leaned her head down closer to the young boy. "This is my son, Yuta. He's going to take real good care of you."

Yuta smiled warmly at the boy. "Hi, Yuki. Come on upstairs with me."

"I'm going to make some tea."

Yuki shyly followed Yuta to the second story of the house. Maybe it was stupid of him to come into a place with complete strangers, but he couldn't find it in him to care. Even if they did end up hurting him, for now…they were showing him warmth he had not experienced for as long as he could remember.

Besides, they couldn't do anything to him that was worse than what Akito did.

Once Noa had finished making the tea, she poured a cup and went up the guest room where Yuta had put Yuki in bed with a cold cloth sitting on his forehead.

"Feeling any better?" Noa asked.

"A little," Yuki answered with another cough.

"Good. This is an herbal tea that will help open your airways." She gently handed it to him before taking a seat on the bed. "Yuta suffered from asthma as a child, so this is nothing new to us. You just finish that and rest for a little while, and then I'll take you home. Okay?"

She could've sworn that Yuki's eyes darkened at the mention of her taking him home, but she wasn't sure if she imagined that or not.

A couple hours later, Noa passed by the guest room and heard quiet whimpers coming from within. She carefully opened the door so as not to disturb Yuki if he was still resting.

The small boy tossed and turned in the bed wearing a look of pain though he remained asleep. "Akito…don't…please…"

Noa quickly went over to his side and gently shook him awake. Sleep was supposed to help his illness but it wouldn't do anything if he was even more miserable unconscious.

"Yuki. Yuki, wake up."

Yuki's eyes sprang open. He sat up in a panic gasping for breath and began coughing all over again. Noa gently took his head in her hands and wiped away the sweat on his brow.

"It's okay, it's okay, you were just having a nightmare. Take a deep breath. It's okay."

She handed him a glass of water then watched as he tried to get his breathing back under control.

"Come here."

Noa pulled him into her arms to comfort him…which was followed by a loud _poof_!

She sprang up from the bed and looked at what the resulting smoke had left behind. It was a rat. A white rat with purple eyes sat on the bed in place of Yuki.

"Oh my goodness!" Noa exclaimed as she put her hands to her head. "How did that even happen?! Was that my fault?! I am very sorry! Oh, what am I even supposed to do now?! Oh have mercy, what will your _parents_ think?! They're going to kill me!"

"…Noa?"

Noa looked at the rat. "You talk?"

"This always happens when a girl hugs me."

"You mean…this is normal?"

"Mm-hm."

"That's a new one."

"It's not just me. Other members of my family change too. We all change into an animal of the Chinese zodiac."

"So…how long before you change back into yourself?"

"It's different almost every time. Sometimes it takes twenty minutes, sometimes five, sometimes…"

 _Poof_!

"…sometimes seconds."

Noa's eyes widened and she quickly turned around before the smoke cleared and she saw poor little Yuki completely naked. She waited for him to redress himself and then turned to look at him. Tears brimmed in his wide innocent eyes.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly.

"You were nice to me," he cried, hugging his knees to his chest. "And now that you know…your memories will have to be erased! Just like the others! And Akito will be mad at me for revealing my secret again! But…but it wasn't my fault this time!"

Noa went back over to the bed and sat down as she gently touched Yuki's arm. Getting worked up was just going to make him sicker. "Yuki, Yuki, calm down. Nothing is going to happen to me or to you. I promise." She took a tissue and softly wiped his eyes for him. "I take it I'm not the first one to find out about this."

Yuki shook his head and sniffled. "They were my friends. I was so happy they wanted me to play with them. I was just playing a game. But one of the girls got too close, and I transformed. Akito ordered Hatori to erase all their memories because no one could know our secret. And now they don't talk to me anymore."

Her heart clenched in her chest as she realized just how lonely this poor boy was, and not by choice. It was important that something this huge remained secret, she understood that, but for someone so young to lose all of his friends like that?

And why did he sound so scared of this Akito person?

"How does this…Hatori erase memories?" she asked.

"I don't know. He just touches their forehead, and they forget us."

"Is he the only one who can do it?"

"Yeah."

"Well, Yuki…no one needs to know that I found out."

Yuki looked up at her in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I won't tell anyone, not even Yuta, if you don't. I swear to you that I'll keep your secret. And if no one knows that I know, they can't erase my memories, right?"

"I guess so."

"Well, now that that's settled, I'll be a little more careful to not hug you. Now come on downstairs. I made some lunch for you."

Yuki looked at the woman in front of him. She made him lunch? First she takes care of him while he's sick, giving him a bed and tea, and now she's made him food? Even after discovering that he was abnormal and a freak of nature?

The small boy briefly wondered if this was what normal people's mothers were like. He had just assumed that all mothers were like this, but this woman was nothing like his own mother. She radiated warmth and kindness even to someone like him.

Noa set out some rice and miso soup for him, and Yuki eagerly ate every bite, not tasting something so delicious in quite a while. The servants at the house usually only doted on Akito's desires and gave him what was left over, even if he didn't like it.

Noa took a seat across from him. "I should probably get you back now. Your parents must be worried sick about you."

Yuki didn't say anything.

"Do you know your address or how to get to your house from here?"

"It's a big place. I would know it if I see it. It can't be too far. I walked here."

"Okay, that's something to go on. Finish up and we'll drive around until we find it, all right?"

Yuki nodded, but Noa noticed that his eyes once again darkened. She also took note that he ate slower, as if savoring the time he had in her house.

Once his food was gone, she cleared the table and retrieved the sweatshirt he had arrived in.

"Come on, my car's just out front," she offered.

Yuki's steps were slow and she had a strong feeling that it wasn't because he was sick. The way he was acting, she figured he would rather die than return home. Were his parents that stern? Or could it be…something worse? Could it have to do with this Akito person he seemed so terrified of?

"There," Yuki finally said when they had been driving for several minutes. "My home is up there."

Noa's eyes widened. This wasn't a house. It was an estate made up of several houses. It was practically its own town. Yuki's family must've been extremely rich.

Noa pulled over in front of the entrance and helped Yuki out of the car. Holding Yuki's hand in her own, she approached the large set of wooden double doors. Not knowing what else to do, she simply knocked.

It took a couple minutes for the doors to open. Someone (Noa couldn't tell if it was a family member or a maid) answered and relief flooded her face when she caught sight of Yuki.

"Oh, Yuki, thank goodness! We've all been so worried, especially Master Akito!"

Yuki's grasp on Noa's hand tightened, something that did not escape her notice. She looked down at him in concern.

The maid, Noa guessed, looked up at her. "And who might you be?"

"My name is Noa Kaneko. Yuki stumbled by my house, and I took him in to get him rested since his asthma was really acting up. My son had asthma, so I knew how to properly deal with it."

"Thank you so much for looking after him."

"It was no trouble at all. I'm just glad he's okay."

The maid reached for Yuki and quite roughly pulled him away from Noa. "Come now, we must let Master Akito know that you're all right." She bowed in Noa's direction. "Thank you again."

The doors began to close, and the last thing Noa saw was Yuki staring back at her with those wide innocent eyes…eyes full of fear.

Noa crossed her arms over her chest and sighed.

She was glad Yuki was back home with his family, but somehow…it just didn't feel like the right thing to do.


	2. Chapter 2

_Two Years Later_

Yuta quickly slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Bye, Mom!" he said as he gave his mother a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Bye, Yuta! Good luck on your test!"

Yuta walked out onto the porch and hopped down the steps before taking took off outside of the gate. Noa crossed her arms to fight the chilly morning air as she walked to the gate to see him off still wearing her plaid pajama bottoms. She lightly tied her messy bedhead hair into a side braid and almost missed the boy with very familiar silver hair walking past her house.

"Yuki?"

The boy looked up at the sound of his name. "Miss Kaneko?"

"You can still call me Noa. Miss Kaneko makes me sound so old. Wow, it's been a long time. You've…you've grown up."

Noa observed the boy in front of her. He was different than the boy she had cared for a couple years ago. It was his eyes where she noticed the most change. They were darker and somewhat lifeless.

Not for the first time, she wondered what would've happened if she had decided to intervene back then and had not let Yuki go back to his home. Maybe his eyes would still hold the same innocence they had then.

"Not running away again, are you?" she asked with a small smile, attempting to lighten the mood.

"No. My mother and the servants are busy this morning, so I just decided to walk to school."

"By yourself?"

"Yes. It's not that far."

It was far enough that he really shouldn't be alone. But it was only a couple more blocks and driving him would just take longer and make him late.

"It, um, it was good to see you again," she told him. "Good luck at school."

"Thank you."

She watched as he continued on his way and ended up going to the primary school next to Yuta's high school. Sighing, she returned back inside, unable to get Yuki's hopeless darkened eyes out of her mind.

Around 3:30 after classes were done for the day, Noa went out onto the porch to wait for her son's return.

However, Yuki ended up passing by her house again before Yuta did.

"Yuki," she called.

Yuki turned and gave her a polite wave.

She once again crossed her arms and walked over to the gate. "Do you maybe…want to come stay with me for a few days?"

Yuki's eyes widened. "Why?"

"I just…think it would be good for you to get out of Sohma house for a little while."

He turned away from her. "Akito would never let me."

"You let me worry about that. Is that something you wanna do?"

He looked back up at her, and for the first time all day, she saw a little bit of light peek through the cloudiness in his eyes. "Yes."

Noa smiled warmly. "Great. Come on, I'll drive you home and see about getting permission to have you over."

She made the drive in almost no time, having memorized the route from before. Then she and Yuki got out of her car and approached the large set of wooden doors.

A servant different from the one before opened the door on the left. "Oh, Yuki, you've returned." She looked up at Noa. "May I help you, ma'am?"

"I would like to speak with the head of the household."

"Master Akito is in no position for an audience right now. He's fallen ill."

"Then let me speak with the next person in charge because this is important."

"If you are not a Sohma, you have no right to be making demands."

"It concerns a Sohma, so that's the next best thing, isn't it?"

The servant sighed and then opened the door to allow the both of them inside. "I suppose Master Hatori will have to do then."

Noa's heart skipped a beat. Hatori was the one who erased memories. But if Yuki had followed through, no one was aware she knew their family secret. She would just have to make sure she didn't let him get close enough to touch her.

The servant led her inside one of the houses. "Wait in this room. He'll be right with you."

While Yuki sat behind her, Noa took a seat on the hard wooden floor waiting for this Hatori person.

She was surprised when a young man of 20 walked into the room. She didn't know what exactly she had been expecting, but definitely someone a little bit older. She began to wonder how old Akito was.

"I was told I needed to meet with you," the man said in a rich baritone voice that made him seem much older than 20. He sat down on his knees in front of her.

Remaining wary of him though refusing to show it, she politely answered, "Yes, the servant said Akito was unwell, so I would talk to you instead."

"I don't have much authority over the household, but I'll listen to what you want and privately confer with Akito."

"Well, to put it plainly, I want Yuki to come stay at my house for a little while."

Hatori's eyebrows rose. "And why is that?"

"Two years ago, Yuki passed by my house having an asthmatic fit, and I cared for him before taking him home. I enjoyed having him over, and I would like to host him again when he is not feeling sick."

"We don't know you. Why should I allow this? Something could happen to him."

"I am a single mother with a son of my own at home who has grown up to be a fine young man. My parenting and hosting skills are not an issue. My son also attends the high school right next to Yuki's which is very close to my house so he would have someone to walk with in the morning. And since I know how to treat asthma since my son used to suffer from it, I will be able to care for him should he have another fit. He'll be in very good hands."

Hatori remained doubtful, but he also knew that with Akito's recent abuse that had only become worse as the days went on, it would be best for Yuki to get away from him for a little while. It wasn't difficult to see that everything Akito did was taking a large toll on the boy.

The only problem was that this woman had to have Akito's permission before taking Yuki anywhere, and the odds of that were extremely unlikely. And as much as he wanted to allow Yuki to go, it was physically impossible for him to disobey Akito.

Hatori stood up. "I will discuss this with Akito. Please wait here."

"I thought he was too sick."

"Too sick to deal with outsiders."

Noa raised an eyebrow. Outsiders? Did these people really think they were so perfect that other people were beneath them? Or was it perhaps just because she was not a member of the zodiac?

Yuki looked at the woman sitting in front of him. No one had ever made this kind of invitation before nor had they come to the house like this to request permission.

Of course, with Hatori going to ask Akito, it was likely he was going to say no, and there wasn't much Noa could do about that.

Hatori pulled back the shoji to Akito's room where the child lay resting on the bed.

"Akito, there's a woman here who wants to let Yuki stay at her house for a few days."

Akito glared up at Hatori.

"She's the same woman who cared for him that time he ran off on his own. It's safe for me to say that she only has the best intentions in mind."

Akito grabbed the nearest object, which ended up being a leftover dish from lunch, and tossed it in his direction. It hit the door and ripped the paper.

"And why should I allow it?" Akito growled. "Why should I allow my precious Yuki to go off with a stranger?"

"She said she wanted to host him while he wasn't sick."

Akito smirked darkly. "Tell that dumb woman there's no way she's taking my precious Rat away from me."

Hatori sighed as Akito flipped back over. He had had a feeling this way going to happen, but he had just hoped that maybe for once, Akito would have a bit of heart. It appeared that wasn't the case.

He returned to the room where Noa was waiting.

Yuki couldn't read Hatori's expression when he came back inside the room. Hatori had always been impossible to read.

"I'm sorry, but Akito refuses to let Yuki go and stay with someone he doesn't know."

Yuki's heart sank. He had been so close to a tiny taste of freedom, but all of his hopes had been quickly dashed. What had he even been expecting? Akito never let him have anything and now wasn't going to be any different.

"I'd like to speak with him myself," Noa stated.

Yuki was surprised she was still fighting this. Most people accepted Akito's words without a second of hesitation. Then again, Noa wasn't a Sohma. She had nothing binding her to what he said.

"Akito cannot meet with anyone," Hatori replied firmly.

"I'll speak with him through the door if it's such a big deal."

"It's not possible right now."

Noa sighed and leaned in closer to him. "I can tell that you want Yuki out of here for just a few days as much as I do. Just give me two minutes with him. That's all I'm asking."

Akito wasn't going to be happy, but it was pretty clear this woman wasn't going to take no for an answer. Maybe…just maybe she would be able to get Akito's permission if she talked with him herself.

"Come with me."

Yuki didn't understand why Noa wanted him to stay with her so badly. What made him so special? Why was she fighting so hard for him? It didn't make any sense!

Hadn't Akito said that no one would ever want him?

Hatori led Noa to Akito's room. "Akito," he said through the door. "Miss Kaneko wants to talk to you."

"Tell that stupid woman I'm too sick!"

 _Not too sick to yell and call me names, I see_ , Noa thought. She was stunned to hear that Akito sounded incredibly young. Just how old was this head of the household? He sounded like a child.

And if this Akito was indeed a child…well, then she knew just how to phrase things.

"Just me hear out, please," she told the person inside. "Yuki will only be with me for one week. That's really not very long at all. Just seven little days. And you know, he'll probably end up hating it there and then he'll come running back to you and realize that this is the only place for him. And then he'll never want to leave your side. I mean, you've known him his whole life. I've only known him for a few hours. Chances are that he's not going to like living with someone who doesn't know him."

There was silence inside the room. Then she could hear a small dark chuckle. "You want Yuki so bad? Then fine. Let him go with you. Then he'll see you for what you really are. And he'll realize that he is better off without anyone except me."

Hatori looked at Noa in surprise. He had no idea that she would be capable of changing the hard-headed Akito's mind. He felt like he needed a replay button so he could analyze what exactly had just happened.

While the reasoning behind the decision was rather twisted, at least it was an acceptance of the offer. Something Yuki direly needed.

He just hoped that this woman didn't find out their secret or he would have to wipe her memories, and he didn't know if Yuki could handle having that happen to him again.

"Thank you," Noa said politely. "Yuki will return in one week."

"Unless he decides to come back before then," the voice called back.

"Yes. Unless he wants nothing more to do with me."

Hatori and Noa returned to the room where Yuki anxiously waited for them.

Noa smiled when she came back inside. "Grab your stuff, Yuki."

Yuki's eyes widened and he quickly stood up in surprise. "What? You mean…Akito said it's okay?"

"Yes, he did. You're going to be staying with me for the next week."

A whole week with Noa? A whole week away from Akito? There must've been a catch! It all seemed too good to be true! Why on earth would Akito agree to this? Akito never agreed to anything Yuki wanted.

Noa helped him gather enough belongings for his stay then he eagerly took her hand, and together they walked out of the Sohma house.

Noa smiled at him as she tightened her hold on his hand. "Let's go home."

Home. It was the most beautiful word Yuki had ever heard.


	3. Chapter 3

On the first morning inside Noa's home, Yuki rubbed his sleepy eyes as he came downstairs. Upon awakening, it had taken him a good several minutes to realize that he wasn't on Sohma property and Akito wasn't the one to quite roughly wake him up.

He walked into the kitchen to find the table set and Noa and Yuta placing various dishes on it.

"Good morning, Yuki!" Noa smiled. "How did you sleep?"

No one had ever greeted him in the morning before. "Um, I slept fine."

"Come on in and eat some breakfast!"

Yuki had never eaten breakfast with anyone except Akito. Was this what normal families did?

He politely sat at one of the place settings and waited for Yuta and Noa to sit down.

They all blessed the food and then began eating.

"Yuki, you're going to walk to school with Yuta since your school is right next to his and he'll make sure you get there safely."

"Thank you," Yuki answered shyly.

"No problem," Yuta smiled. "It'll be nice to not make that short walk all by myself."

"All right, hurry and finish up," Noa told them. "You both better get going. Don't forget your lunches!"

The two boys quickly finished their remaining food and then grabbed their backpacks.

Yuta gave his mother a peck on the cheek as he grabbed his lunch. "Bye, Mom."

"Bye." She grabbed a paper bag from the counter. "Here, Yuki, this is for you."

Yuki carefully took the paper bag from her, surprised she had gone to such lengths for him. "Bye, Miss Kaneko."

"Noa. Bye, Yuki. I'll see you both after school!"

They both left the house, and Noa smiled fondly. It was about time Yuki felt a real, regular family morning.

After classes were done for the day, Yuta went to Yuki's school and waited for the young boy. Yuki smiled shyly as he exited the building and saw the teenager who was smiling at him.

Usually, it was his mother who picked him up from school, but she barely said two words to him the entire drive much less him give him such a bright smile upon seeing him.

"Hey, how was school?" Yuta asked.

"It was good."

"Any homework?"

"Um, yeah, a little bit. I have some for math and some writing practice."

"Not too hard then, right?" He slung an arm around the boy's shoulder. "Come on, let's get home. Mom probably made some food for us."

When the two boys came home from school, they headed for the kitchen.

"Welcome home!" Noa smiled.

Yuki felt his heart flutter. It was the first time he had ever actually been welcomed home upon returning.

"I was just making some snacks for you two."

"Ooh, castella!" Yuta beamed. "My favorite!"

"Yuki, you can help yourself."

"Thank you," Yuki said quietly.

He started towards the cake but stopped when he saw a picture of man he didn't know sitting on a shelf next to some candles and plants.

Noa came up behind him. "That's my late husband, Kei," she told him. "He fell very sick five years ago and passed away. He would've loved you, you know."

"Really?" Yuki asked.

"Really. He had a heart for kids, especially kids your age. And he always knew just what to say to get them to trust him and open up to him."

"Do you miss him?"

"…Every single day. But I still have Yuta. And even though we're a small family, we both get by. We're happy." She put her arm around his shoulder, being extra careful not to let their torsos touch. "Come on, let's have some cake. Then the both of you need to go and do your homework."

"Oh, Mom!" Yuta groaned. "We've been home for five minutes!"

"And you'll get five more minutes, and then it's homework time. Yuki, if you have any questions, just ask me or Yuta for help, okay? And if you both finish by tonight, I'll let you watch TV and I'll even go out and buy some ice cream for you."

"TV _and_ ice cream? Yuki, can you come over more often?"

For the first time since Noa had met the young boy, he gave them a genuine smile.

* * *

The next few days proved to be the happiest of Yuki's life. For the first time that he could remember, there was someone who cared about him. Someone who made sure he was well taken care of, someone who was happy just to have him around.

It was the first time he didn't absolutely dread school being over.

Not that school was any picnic either. Ever since his old friends had had their memories of him erased, he hadn't been able to make any new friends.

Yet that began to change when Yuta dropped him off on his way to the high school. The teenager politely greeted some of the other kids and made conversation with them. This in turn caused some of them to speak to Yuki, wondering if Yuta was his brother or a mentor. Some of the girls asked if the attractive older male had a girlfriend.

He finally started to have friends again.

When he had helped that young girl find her mother two years ago just before meeting Noa, that had been the first time he felt needed.

This past week was the first time he felt wanted.

When he explored the second level of the house while Noa took care of some cleaning downstairs, he opened the door to what appeared to be a small walk-in closet. He tried to find the light, but it wasn't on the wall next to the door.

In the darkness, he tripped on something and fell forward. The door slammed shut behind him. He tried the knob and it wouldn't open.

Panic rose up inside his chest.

This darkness…this isolation…

He began banging on the door, pleading to be let out. What if Noa didn't hear him? What if he would be stuck inside this room for hours?

Noa paused sweeping when she heard muffled bangs from upstairs. She dropped the broom and quickly climbed the steps. The bangs came from the hall closet, and Yuki's panicked shouts from inside reached her ears.

She rushed over to the door and pulled it open. Yuki tumbled out onto the floor.

"Yuki, what were you doing in there?"

The only response that she got was a combination of cries, gasps, and hiccups from the panicking boy.

Noa quickly got down on her knees and took Yuki's head in her hands so she could force him to look at her.

"Yuki, it's all right. You're okay."

Tears streamed from his eyes as he continued gasping for breath.

"Yuki, Yuki, look at me. Hey. Look at me. Take some deep breaths. Breathe in." She inhaled deeply for him to see. "Breathe out." She slowly released her breath. "Breathe in. Breathe out."

Slowly, Yuki began to copy her and took some deep breaths with her.

"Good. In. Out. In. Out."

She wiped the tears from his eyes with her thumbs.

"You're okay." She stood up and closed the closet door. "Are you claustrophobic?"

"What does that mean?" Yuki sniffled.

"It means that you're afraid of tightly closed spaces."

"No. I'm afraid of being alone in the dark."

While that was a normal child's fear, she couldn't help but feel that there was some other reason it terrified him. Most children didn't have panic attacks that severe when alone in the dark like he had been. She was fairly certain he hadn't even been in there for very long and it was enough to send him into complete hysterics.

She gently ruffled his hair. "Come on, let's get you some water."

* * *

A couple nights later, Noa was asleep when she heard someone quietly whisper, "Noa?"

Noa opened her eyes and it took a second for her to realize that Yuki was standing next to her bed.

She sat up a little bit. "Yuki, are you okay?"

"I…I had a bad dream."

Yuki didn't really know what he expected Noa to do. At Sohma house, when he went to his mother telling her he had a nightmare, she got up and irritably took him back to his room, telling him that only weak children were afraid of bad dreams. When he had told Akito, he just told him to go back to his room before turning over and returning to sleep.

Noa smiled sympathetically. "Go on the other side of the bed."

Yuki slowly did so.

When Noa saw he wasn't moving anymore, she smiled again. "Go on, get in."

Yuki's eyes grew big again.

"It's okay."

She pulled back the blanket for him. Yuki hesitantly climbed up next to her.

"Whenever Yuta had a bad dream, he'd coming running in here to sleep right in between me and Kei. There's nothing quite like that kind of comfort when you're afraid."

Normally, Noa would pull Yuki close to her so that he could feel protected inside her arms. Unfortunately, she knew doing so would just cause him to transform.

So instead, she put her arm around his torso without directly hugging him. It was the best she could do.

It looked like Yuki was about to start crying, and she wondered if this was the first time he had ever received comfort from anyone after having a nightmare.

Just what kind of life did he live at the Sohma house?

* * *

Much too soon for all three of them, the dreaded day had come.

It was time for Yuki to return to Sohma house.

Noa packed up his things for him and put them in her car.

Yuta hugged the small boy. "It was really fun having another guy around," he smiled. "Take care of yourself."

"Thank you," Yuki replied trying his hardest not to look upset. "You're fun to be around."

"Thanks. Come by again soon, okay?"

Yuki slowly nodded.

Noa sighed as she got into the car followed by Yuki.

She drove slowly to the house, willing the seconds to pass by slower. She was sure Yuki felt the same way.

When they arrived, Noa pulled his belongings out of the car and walked him to the large doors.

"Yuta and I thoroughly enjoyed having you around," she told him. "My door is always open to you. You can stop by anytime you want. And if you want to come home with Yuta one day after school, that's perfectly fine."

"Thank you for everything, Noa. I had a really, really good time."

Noa desperately wished she could hug him. Instead, she knelt down and pressed a light kiss to his forehead.

"This isn't good-bye. Just…see you later."

Yuki smiled. "Right. See you later."

Noa opened one of the doors for him, and Yuki stepped through. Just before the door closed, he turned and waved to her.

She smiled as she waved back.

Noa released a large breath of air. She didn't know what exactly went on in Sohma house, but she hoped that with Yuki now knowing someone wanted him, it would make the hard times a little more bearable.


	4. Chapter 4

For the next six years, Yuki visited Noa's house every chance he got. At least once a week if not more, he walked home with Yuta after school.

When Yuta graduated from high school and went to college, Yuki made the walk on his own. Each time, Noa welcomed him with open arms and already-made delicious snacks.

She helped him with his homework when he needed it and gave him advice when he started serving on the student council.

She quickly became more of a mother to him than anyone else, including his own.

Sure, Noa could be pretty strict sometimes and they _had_ had their share of mild arguments here and there, but Yuki only knew that was because she cared about him, and she proved that by the overwhelming amount of affection she showed him. There wasn't a thing she could do to make him dislike her.

Akito was aware of almost every visit but kept waiting for the time when Noa betrayed Yuki so he would come running back to him or better yet, the time when Noa discovered his secret and he could order Hatori to erase her memories.

Both had yet to happen and as much as Akito hated it, there wasn't a whole lot he could do. Every single attempt at intimidating Yuki to stop seeing her just resulted in him seeing her _more_. And for all his power over the Sohma family, he didn't have any control over Noa.

After moving into Shigure's house, Yuki visited Noa less often because as much as he enjoyed visiting her, her house had also been something of an escape from Sohma house. Living with Shigure, he didn't need to escape as much. After Tohru moved in, he desired to be home more often if only to make sure that Shigure didn't work the poor girl to death or make any untoward advances. Even if it meant spending more time with Kyo who had moved in not even a day after Tohru.

Yuki eventually introduced Noa to both Shigure and Tohru on separate occasions. Kyo had yet to meet her because he didn't care about who Yuki liked so he never made the effort to come in contact with the woman.

Shigure had privately thanked her for caring for Yuki across the years and for saving him from living a life constantly under Akito's twisted wing.

The more she heard about Akito, the more Noa wanted to meet this person face-to-face and understand what made him so bad.

Yuki had explained to Noa that Akito was the "god" of the zodiac which meant that none of the members of the zodiac could really hate Akito despite the constant abuse they suffered.

Noa noticed that Yuki never talked about what Akito did to him or why he was so afraid of him, but she never pushed it. It was clear it had scarred him and now that he had finally broken out of his petrified shell, she didn't want to force him back into it.

Tohru had taken an instant liking to Noa and soon began joining Yuki when he visited her.

The girl was a ball of sunshine and Noa was pretty sure it was physically impossible to dislike her. She could stand to be a little more confident and sure of herself and maybe accept help from others more often, but really, even that was a stretch.

Aside from Hatori and Shigure, Noa had yet to meet any other member of the Sohma family. She wanted to, but Yuki was too worried that someone would discover she knew their secret, and the last thing he wanted was to lose her. So for the time being, she respected his wishes and stayed away.

However, there came a day when none other than Hatori showed up on Noa's front doorstep. She had invited him over before, but he had never taken her up on the offer, and she wondered what was different about now.

"Come in," Noa offered.

Hatori stepped inside.

"May I offer you something to drink?"

"No, thank you. I won't be here long."

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Akito wants to meet with you."

Silence stretched throughout the home for several long seconds.

"Why now?" Noa finally asked.

"He didn't mention it. I suppose he wants to meet the person Yuki has become so fond of."

Noa remained a little wary. Akito struck a deep fear into Yuki's heart and she didn't want to accidentally do or say anything that would result in Akito hurting him more. On the other hand, she had heard people speaking of him so often that she wanted to know more about him and understand just exactly why and how he made everyone so terrified.

"When?" she asked.

"Tomorrow afternoon. And I think it's best Yuki doesn't know about this."

"I didn't plan on telling him."

Hatori nodded. "I'll see myself out then. We'll be expecting you."

Noa watched him leave.

So this was it. She was going to meet the infamous Akito.

Following her word, Noa showed up at the Sohma household the next afternoon for her meeting. She decided to dress a little nicer to show her respect for Akito's position (even if she didn't hold much respect for the person).

One of the servants opened the door and led her to the largest building inside the estate. A young man stood outside Akito's room.

He turned and gave her a warm yet pained smile. "You must be Miss Kaneko."

"Yes. And you are?"

"Kureno Sohma. It's nice to finally meet you. Akito's talked about you often."

"I can only imagine what he's said about me. Are you close with him?"

"You could say that."

Yuki had told her that Kureno was the Rooster of the zodiac and spent a lot of time by Akito's side. So much time, in fact, that almost no one in the family ever even saw him and no one could say for sure when he had last left the estate.

There was no way that was healthy, and Noa wasn't really sure which one of them was to blame for this man's sheltered nature.

"Akito?" Kureno called through the shoji. "Miss Kaneko has arrived."

"Send her in," an icy voice replied.

Kureno pulled back the shoji for her. Noa took a deep breath and walked inside.

The room was rather dimly lit, but she could see Akito sitting on the right side of it wrapped in the shadow. She politely sat on her knees in the center of the room.

"It is nice to finally meet you in person, Akito."

"Don't address me so familiarly," Akito snapped.

"My apologies. May I ask why you requested me to come here today?"

Akito finally stepped out of the darkness and faced her. Even though Yuki had told her Akito was only four years older than him, she was still surprised to see that the head of the household was so… _young_. He wore a pale yukata under a pink and blue robe that fell slightly off one shoulder.

He looked so…pale and skinny. She wondered if he ever went out in the sun by choice.

But she was also struck by just how cold and hard his eyes were. They were the angriest eyes she had ever seen. She could easily understand why Yuki was so scared of him.

"My precious Yuki has been spending much of his time with you. I want to know why."

"I cared for him when he was having an asthma attack, and—"

"Yes, yes, I already know all that! I mean, why does he continue to go see you?! _You're_ the one who said he wasn't going to like it there!"

Noa kept her calm composure. "I said 'probably', not 'definitely'. He visits me because he was searching for the affection he was lacking while living here."

"Are you saying I didn't provide for him?!"

"You provided the basic necessities, but I quickly saw that it had been a long time since anyone seemed to have genuinely cared for him."

"And what you would know?! I cared for that brat! It was everyone _else_ who didn't like him! If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't even have a reason to live!"

If Akito had instilled that into Yuki's head as much as she thought he did, it was no wonder Yuki was so depressed when he had first come to stay with her.

"I disagree. He gets along very well with my own son, and the both of us care very much for him. That's enough reason there."

Akito leaned in close to her face and was thoroughly disappointed when she didn't lean back. "You want to take him away from me, don't you? You _want_ him to leave me! You, an outsider, have no place here amongst the Sohmas! I order you to leave Yuki alone!"

Noa calmly stood up, seeing no reason to sit if this person was just going to continue to hurl insults and accusations at her. "If I have no place amongst the Sohmas, how can you give me orders and expect me to follow them?"

Akito growled and his fist flew towards her face.

Noa's hand shot up and grabbed his wrist before it could make contact with its target.

Akito's eyes widened and he wrenched his wrist out of her grasp. _No one_ had ever stopped him like this before!

"How dare you defy me?!" he screamed.

"You may be the Sohma's master, but you are not mine. You are nothing but a spoiled child who throws tantrums when you don't get your way."

"You have no right to talk to me that way, you stupid woman!"

"I see you haven't changed from the time we spoke six years ago."

"You're the one who is still trying to steal my precious Yuki from me!"

Noa remembered what Yuki had explained to her before about no one in the zodiac being able to disobey Akito. The servants certainly couldn't disobey him. She didn't know what the other Sohmas did, but from what she heard, Akito didn't have much contact with those outside of the zodiac.

And if that was the case, he had to be used to getting his way all the time.

…She knew just what to do.

"Well, how about this?" Noa suggested. "Why don't you come stay in my house yourself? Then you can be the one to determine if it's a safe environment for Yuki to stay in."

"Why would I want to do that?" Akito growled. "I can just order him to stay away from you."

"But you can't order me to stay away from him."

Akito glared fiercely at her. He hated this woman. Barring that awful woman he called his mother, he could safely say that he never hated another person so strongly.

Noa made direct eye contact with him as he vehemently tried to intimidate her with his harsh glare. There must've been years upon years of built-up anger locked away inside him. She wondered if it would ever be possible to unlock it all.

"If you come stay with me for…say, one month, and you still believe that Yuki should not visit me, I will agree to back off."

Akito stared her down. "One month?"

"One month. After the month is over, I will accept whatever your decision is."

He smirked cruelly. "Fine. I'll come to your wretched place for one month, and if I am dissatisfied…and I will be…you agree to never speak to another Sohma again for as long as you live."

Noa held out her hand. "We have a deal."

She could tell he would rather have his arm chopped off than touch her, but he slowly reached out and shook her hand.

"I will come by tomorrow to drive you to my house."

"I'd wish you luck, Noa Kaneko, but I know you will lose."

Noa smirked in his direction. "Don't underestimate me, Akito Sohma."

And probably for the first time in his life, Akito did not have the last word.


	5. Chapter 5

Noa left the main estate and traveled to Shigure's house. She approached the shoji and lightly knocked on the wooden frame.

Shigure pulled back the shoji. "Oh, Noa, what a pleasant surprise," he smiled. He smirked at her as he put his hand to his chin. "Finally realized I'm the only man for you?"

Noa rolled her eyes. "Hello, Shigure."

"What brings you by?"

"I need to speak with Yuki."

"I believe he's upstairs studying with Tohru. You can go on up."

"Thank you. Is Kyo here?"

"No, I'm not sure where he is. Probably just wanted to get away from Yuki for a while. They had a rather terrible argument just an hour ago. Worse than usual I mean." He raised his hand to his eye to wipe away an imaginary tear. "My poor bookcase did not survive."

Noa shook her head at his overdramaticness. "I was hoping to finally meet him."

"I'm sure you'll get the chance eventually. He's around here more often than usual." He cupped his hand around his mouth as if he was telling her a huge secret. "Between you and me, I think it has to do with our little flower."

Noa raised her eyebrows in surprise. She made sure to store that little piece of information away.

She went upstairs and down the hall until she came across Tohru's opened door.

"Miss Noa!" Tohru exclaimed when she saw the woman standing in the entranceway. She quickly stood up and ran over to her to hug her. "It's so good to see you again!"

Noa smiled. "It's good to see you too, Tohru. I hope you're all studying hard."

"Oh, yes, we are! Exams are coming up after all. Yuki's been helping me study some of the harder stuff."

Yuki smiled over at the two of them. "Hello, Noa."

"Yuki, come here. I need to talk with you."

"Oh. Okay." Yuki put down his book and stood up. "Miss Honda, I'll just be a moment."

"Oh, no, take all the time you need!" Tohru told him.

Noa led Yuki outside of the room and into the empty one next door.

"Is there something wrong?" Yuki asked.

Noa decided that beating around the bush wasn't going to do anyone any good so she just came out and said it. "Akito is going to be staying with me for a little while."

Yuki's eyes widened in fear and disbelief.

"I know you have a rough history with him, and I wanted to let you know so you weren't in for a very unpleasant surprise if you ended up visiting me."

"Noa…you can't do this," Yuki said quietly. "He'll…he'll hurt you."

"Yuki, you told me that those under the zodiac curse have no choice but to obey Akito. But that's not me. He cannot force me to do anything, and I will certainly not let him physically hurt me."

"But…why would you do this?"

Noa didn't want to tell him that she was mainly doing this in order to let Akito keep seeing him because he would just end up blaming himself if something happened to her.

She tenderly put her hand to the side of Yuki's face. "Akito needs to understand rules and structure, something he is sorely lacking by living in the main house. He needs to know what it is for someone to tell him 'no'. He needs time away from Sohma house, and my home is the best place for that, don't you think?"

Yuki continued to look at her fearfully. "Please, Noa…just be careful."

"I will. I promise."

* * *

The following day after preparing her house for the temporary additional occupant, Noa drove back to Sohma house to pick up Akito.

If his behavior the previous day was anything to go by, this was not going to be easy. But there was no way Noa was going to let Yuki go without a fight.

The double doors opened and Kureno and two other servants escorted Akito out with his bags in their hands. Akito wore the same outfit as yesterday, and she briefly wondered if he ever wore anything else.

Noa got out and opened the trunk before going over to the servants and taking Akito's bags from them. "I'll take these." She turned to look at Akito. "Is this everything you need for now?"

"Of course it is," Akito snapped. "And if I need anything else, you can just come here and retrieve it for me."

She decided to let that one go for the time being.

Noa loaded up the trunk and then shut the door. "All right. In that case, hop in."

Akito stared at the passenger door. "Open it."

"That is not going to happen."

"You are hosting me in your home, so you have to do what I say."

"Correct, I'm hosting you. But I'm not your slave. You're a big boy, you can open a door on your own." She smirked a little. "Unless…you can't."

Akito glared at her and opened the car door.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Shut up."

"Watch your mouth."

"Don't tell me what to do." Akito scanned the interior of the vehicle. "Hatori's car is better."

"Well, this was the best I could do, and it has served me faithfully for twelve years."

Kureno watched the interaction with mild amusement.

Noa turned and bowed to Kureno and the two servants. "Akito will return in one month. If you need him for anything, please feel free to contact me."

"Please take care of our master, Miss Kaneko," one of the servants said.

"I will do everything I can for him."

Kureno came up to her and said quietly, "Akito's never stayed anywhere except here. He rarely even leaves the estate at all. Everything will be new and overwhelming, and—"

"Relax," Noa smiled. "I promise I'll take good care of him."

Kureno nodded and stepped back next to the servants.

Noa got into the driver's seat and rode away from Sohma house.

Surprisingly, Akito did not have any more snide comments and remained silent for the entirety of the short drive.

That is, until she pulled up to the house.

"Your house is very small. It's pathetic."

"Well, not everyone can afford an estate with multiple living spaces. With only two occupants, it's enough for us."

"Two?"

"Yes, me and my son. But Yuta's about to be a senior in college and is getting ready to move out any day now."

Akito fell silent. When Noa looked over at him, he appeared to be deep in thought about whatever could possibly be on his mind. She wondered if he was thinking more cruel thoughts about her and her possessions but figured he would actually state all of those opinions rather than just think about them. So just what was running through his head?

Noa got out of the car and opened the trunk. "I'll take this bag, and you can grab the other one."

"And why should I?" Akito asked with disdain.

"Because they're your belongings. I don't _have_ to help you bring them in. But I will."

Akito angrily grabbed his other suitcase and yanked it out of the trunk.

Noa had never met someone with such a nasty attitude before. Didn't he have parents who wouldn't tolerate this horrible behavior?

Then again, if Yuki's parents were anything to go by, she could only guess what Akito's parents were like.

She closed the trunk and headed inside. "You'll be in the guest room on the second floor."

"Is that where my precious Yuki stays?"

"When he stays the night, yes. It's the only spare room I have." Noa walked up the steps and into the guest room. "I've already made the bed up for you. You can hang up all your clothes in the closet or put them in the dresser. The bathroom is just down the hall. I just cleaned the tub, so you can take a bath if you want or you can just shower if that's what you prefer. If you need anything else, let me know. While you get settled, I'll go ahead and start making dinner."

Akito pointed to his suitcases. "You can't make dinner. You need to unpack my things."

Noa smirked a little. "Akito, you are perfectly capable of putting away your clothes by yourself."

Akito glared at her as she left the room. He despised how she always managed to get the last word and how she constantly wore that stupid grin whenever she spoke to him, as if she was just trying to irritate him.

Akito opened one of the suitcases and took out some of the clothes. He had never folded clothes before. The servants always did it for him.

After several attempts at folding one of the shirts, he gave up out of frustration and just crammed everything into one of the drawers.

"Hey, Akito!" Noa called. "Come on down! It's time to eat!"

Akito rolled his eyes. He never ate at a table. He always had his meals brought to him. Did Noa really expect him to eat with her? He was already in her home. That should be enough. There was no way he would share a table with someone of such low standing. It would be an insult to him as the head of the Sohma household.

Akito came down the stairs and looked at the table.

"I made some chicken karaage," Noa smiled. "Did you get everything unpacked?"

"Yes, no thanks to you."

"You can lay off with the attitude after I worked to cook for you and everything."

"My cooks are better."

"How would you know if you haven't even tried my cooking yet? Take a seat at the table."

"I'll eat in the room I shall be staying in."

"I don't think so. I don't allow eating anywhere except the dining room and the living room on special occasions. The last thing I need is bugs and other creatures crawling around my home."

"I _said_ that I'm going to eat in the room I am staying in."

"And I said no."

Akito had had enough. Ever since yesterday, this woman had done nothing but push every single one of his buttons, and his fury had now quickly boiled over.

His fist went flying with every intention of hitting Noa in the face.

But just like last time, she caught his wrist before he could hit her and held it firmly in her hand.

"Akito," she said sternly. "We don't hit people. It's not nice."

Akito yanked his wrist out of her hand. "Stop treating me like a child!"

Noa placed her hands on her hips. "I'll stop treating you like a child when you stop acting like one. Now I know that at Sohma house, you're used to getting your way all the time, but here things are going to be a little different. As long as you're under my roof, you're expected to follow my rules."

Akito crossed his arms. "And what if I just left? I could return to the main house any time I wanted."

"I suppose you could. But what might the other members of the family think when the head of the household can't even last one day outside of the estate? Oh, I'm sure they won't say anything, but they'll certainly be thinking it."

Akito glared fiercely at her, wanting so desperately to claw her eyes out.

"Besides, if you leave before the month is over, you forfeit, and I win. And I get to see Yuki as much as I want."

"Stupid woman," Akito muttered.

"Spoiled child."

"You are annoyingly overconfident."

"When you go through the struggles of marriage and raising a child, you're allowed to be this confident. Now take a seat and eat some dinner."

* * *

The next week proved to be very, very difficult. Akito met every single one of Noa's requests with either a snide remark or a selfish demand.

Luckily, the violent outbursts slowly began to decrease since he quickly figured out that he just couldn't seem to catch Noa off-guard enough for him to hit her. It was the first time he had tried to hit someone with no success and it made him even angrier.

Until he had a better idea than using his fists.

"Noa, I want some ramen. Go buy some for me."

"We're having curry and rice for dinner tonight, Akito," Noa answered. "We can have some ramen tomorrow night."

Akito growled before picking up the nearest picture frame and throwing it at her. Even she couldn't catch flying objects, especially larger ones like pictures. This would do the damage he had been trying to inflict on her all this time.

"I _hate_ you!" he screamed at her. "I hate living here! I hate everything about this place!"

The glass on the frame cracked and the frame itself broke when it hit the wall behind Noa.

Akito was furious that he had missed, but the look on Noa's face when she realized what it was that he had thrown told him the frame was more than just a silly picture.

Noa's heart skipped a beat as she knelt down and picked up the broken frame and the picture inside.

It was the picture of Kei.

She stood back up and turned to glare at Akito. She was surprised when she saw him shrink back just a little bit, but the look on her face did not waver. It was the ever-terrifying 'angry-mom' look, something even Akito's angry face did not rival.

"Akito, we do not throw things in this house! Do you know what you just threw at me?! This was a picture of my late husband, and it is extremely important to me! Just because you don't get what you want does _not_ give you the excuse to throw things or hit people! Do you understand me?!"

Akito glared back at her. "Fine, then just send me back to the main house already! Then you don't have to deal with me anymore!"

Noa put the broken frame down on the counter and slowly walked over to the young man. "Akito…just because I'm angry doesn't mean I'm going to kick you out and send you back." When Akito didn't respond, she quietly added, "Is that what you thought was going to happen?"

Akito's silence answered that question for her.

Noa sighed heavily. "Come here."

She led Akito to the living room and sat him down on the couch across from her. It was easy to tell he was reluctant to listen to her, but he kept still as he sat down.

"Let me tell you something. I do not give up easily. I'm going to see this through to the end, no matter what happens."

If she wasn't mistaken, she could've sworn that a very, very slight glimmer of hope flashed in Akito's eyes.

"Listen…I didn't bring you to my home just because I wanted to keep seeing Yuki. That's obviously a huge part of it, but it's not the only reason I made this suggestion. I wanted to get you out of that extremely stifling place and help you to experience a somewhat normal life outside of all the pressure that comes with being the head of the household which I'm sure cannot be easy."

Akito refused to meet her eyes. "I was fine."

She noticed that the way he said that, it seemed like he was trying to convince himself of that more than her. "Maybe you were. But now you'll at least gain more experiences outside of Sohma house which will make you a better leader." She knelt down so that her head was much lower than his as a way to meet his eyes. "But that means that you cannot go around yelling and fighting when things don't go the way you want them to."

Akito looked at the broken frame sitting on the counter and felt something hurt his chest. Was it possibly…guilt?

No, it couldn't be that. It wasn't his fault. If Noa had just gotten him ramen like he had asked, he wouldn't have had to throw the picture at her. It was all _her_ fault. Not his.

"I'm going to go find a new frame for the picture," Noa told him as she stood up. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. I promise you, we'll have ramen tomorrow night. Next time you want something for dinner, just ask me. I'll be happy to make it for you, provided I haven't already started something."

While Noa left the living room to search for a new frame, Akito tried to process what had just happened. He thought for sure that when he made her even the slightest bit angry, she was just going to send him back to the main house. Noa had been so furious with him…but then…she calmed down and treated him so kindly…

No. Maybe it wasn't today, but soon, she would abandon him. Everyone would. Only the members of the zodiac would be the ones who never left him. That was the way it always had been and always would be. He had accepted that long ago.

Noa would never be able to stay…especially if she found out the truth about them.

That night, Noa passed by the closed bathroom door and heard the sound of water splashing inside.

She knocked on the door. "Akito, did you find everything you needed?"

"Yes. Now leave me alone."

"Well, when you're finished, I'll make a cup of hot chocolate for you, okay?"

"Why?"

"I don't know, I just thought it sounded good."

"Fine."

"Take your time."

Only a few moments later, a terrible crash sounded from inside the bathroom along with a cry of pain.

Noa rushed to the door and quickly knocked on it. "Akito, are you okay?!"

The only response she got was a quiet groan.

Noa panicked a little. She didn't want to just waltz in on him when he was naked, but he could be seriously hurt and she couldn't just do nothing.

She grabbed a towel from the hall in the closet. Then she whipped open the door, careful to avert her eyes as much as possible. She tossed the towel onto Akito's lower half before she could see anything.

However, when she turned to look at Akito, she was faced with a startling revelation.

There was an addition on his upper half that certainly did not belong to any man.

Noa quickly averted her eyes once more.

Akito slowly pulled the towel up to cover his…her upper half as well as her lower half.

Once the towel had been properly secured, Noa looked back at her and wrapped her arms around her shoulders to help her stand up.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly. "What happened?"

"I just tripped getting out of the tub," Akito answered, once again not meeting her eyes. She squirmed out of Noa's arms. "I'm fine."

"Well, you don't look like you got hurt anywhere, so I'll leave you to get dressed. Um, the hot chocolate's on your nightstand."

Noa exited the bathroom and closed the door. Then she released a very long breath.

It seemed the Sohma family was full of more secrets than she thought.


	6. Chapter 6

"Akito, I'm going out to run a couple errands," Noa said as she stood outside the guest room. "I'll be back as soon as I can, okay? And I'll be sure to pick up some ramen."

Akito did not acknowledge her as she remained in bed.

Ever since yesterday, Akito had not said a single word to her. Noa didn't want to press her or force anything out of her, but Akito couldn't stay silent forever.

"I left some breakfast on the table for you. So just go ahead and eat whenever you feel up to it, okay?"

Still no answer.

Noa sighed as she grabbed her keys and left the house.

At Sohma house, Hatori wondered how Akito was getting along over at Noa's place. Noa was patient and warm and accepting of others, but everyone had their limits and it was very possible that Akito would reach Noa's.

He just hoped Akito didn't physically hurt her like everyone else. Though if he was being honest, he was very curious as to how Noa would handle that if it did indeed happen. Surely raising a young boy, she had dealt with her fair share of violent outbursts and knew how to handle them. And unlike the rest of the Sohma family, she didn't have to put up with anything Akito tried to do.

"Hatori."

Hatori turned around as he was abruptly knocked from his thoughts by the sound of the very woman in question.

"We need to talk."

Hatori raised his eyebrows. Had she come to return Akito? Had it all proven to be too much for her so soon? With Akito winning their little deal, what would Yuki do now without the woman who had become like a mother to him?

He quickly forced himself to stop jumping to conclusions.

"Come in."

Noa took a seat on the chair opposite him. She looked straight at Hatori with serious eyes. "I know Akito's secret."

Hatori remained expressionless, but he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say or do. Was he supposed to erase her memories now? If she knew the secret of the zodiac curse, he couldn't just do nothing, right?

But then, Tohru had been allowed to keep her memories, something that still didn't make sense to him.

Noa realized she had to clarify which secret she knew. "I know Akito is actually a girl."

Well, it wasn't _the_ secret, but it was something that was supposed to stay between a select few of the Sohma family members. But Hatori generally only erased memories when Akito told him to, and Akito wasn't around to tell him to do anything. Should he go and ask Akito what she wanted for him to do?

"I want to know why," Noa said sharply. "Why was she pretending to be a man? And tell me the truth. I can't care for this girl if I don't know what's really going on."

Hatori sighed. He really should've seen this coming. Akito could only stay in another person's house alone for so long before her secret got out. Hatori wondered how Yuki had managed to see Noa so often for the last several years and still keep his curse a secret. Because Noa was such an affectionate woman which meant there was no way she hadn't hugged him yet, he had an inkling suspicion that she had found out but they were keeping that fact a secret from everyone.

It wouldn't surprise him if that was the case. He would never forget little Yuki's face when he begged him not to remove his friends' memories. It would haunt him forever.

Hatori looked up at Noa. He knew that he wasn't supposed to reveal such personal Sohma family matters to an outsider, but how could he expect anything to change if they continued to keep so many things secret?

"It was Ren Sohma," he finally told her.

"Ren?"

"Yes, that's…Akito's mother."

Noa felt her mouth go dry.

"She used to be a servant in the Sohma household many years ago and then married Akira Sohma who was the head of the household at the time against the older maids' vehement disagreements. Not long after that, Ren became pregnant with Akito. When Ren found out she was to have a girl, she threatened to abort her if she was not raised as a male. Akira worried she would go through with the threat, so he had no choice but to agree."

Noa put her hand to her mouth in disbelief as she listened to Hatori's explanation.

"Only four of us in the Sohma family in addition to Akira knew the truth, myself being one of them. The head maid also knows because she had to assist with the delivery."

"Why just you four?"

"The reason isn't important."

"Why did Ren want Akito to pretend to be male?"

Hatori sighed again and it took several moments for him to speak. "Akito was destined to be the next head of the household before she was even born, and Ren didn't want a girl as the head. Ren was also incredibly possessive of Akira. She feared that if her child was a girl, she would replace her as the one Akira cared for the most."

"And you all just went along with this? Did no one think about how completely messed up it was?!"

"Akira was the head of the household. We could not go against him or his wife."

Noa shook her head and then held her head in her hands as she propped her elbows on her knees.

It was no wonder Akito acted up all the time. Not only did she lack structure in her life, she also had even worse parents than Yuki's, or at least a much worse mother.

At the moment, all Noa wanted was to run back home and hold Akito in her arms and provide her with all of the acceptance and affection her own mother had refused to give her. Of course, Akito would never allow her to do so, but she still wanted to.

"I'm not saying it was right, but we had no choice," Hatori said softly. "Shigure and I have constantly tried to be there for her and show her that we accept her as she is, but…it's not enough, and it never will be. Ren has instilled into Akito that any bond she has with anyone is doomed to fail. And Akito has in turn instilled that belief into Yuki."

Noa recalled when Akito's eyes had flickered with hope when she had told her that she wasn't going to give up on her. Now it all made sense.

Noa rarely felt hatred for another human being, but she had not even met Ren yet and she could safely say that she hated that woman.

"So, now that you know…what will you do?"

She finally stood up from the chair and met Hatori's (dare she say, ashamed) eyes. "Let me be very clear. The month is not over yet, and Akito is going to remain with me until then. And if I had my way, I would _never_ bring her back here."

Without another word, she quickly exited the room.

Hatori stared after her guiltily. Maybe…just maybe, Akito would finally get the affection she so desperately needed.

Akito needed someone from outside of the zodiac who genuinely cared for her. The zodiac bonds were strong, but at the end of the day, they were just forced bonds which made them essentially fake. Akito held on to those bonds far too strongly to the point where she ruled everyone through fear and intimidation. She needed to know that there was someone out there who wasn't going to abandon her, zodiac bond or not.

Later that afternoon, Noa returned home and found that the breakfast she had set for Akito remained untouched.

She sighed and made a quick lunch before putting it on a tray and bringing it up to the guest room.

"Akito?" she said as she came to the door. Akito had barely moved an inch from when she had left that morning. "I made some lunch for you."

"I don't feel good," Akito said to her which was the most she had said in the past fourteen hours.

"Well, that's probably because you haven't eaten anything today. Here, I brought it up for you."

"I thought you wouldn't let me eat in here."

"Sometimes, I'm willing to make an exception."

Akito finally turned to face her. She was wearing another yukata but no robe. Noa put the tray on the bedside table.

Then she put a paper bag on the bed. "I went out and bought some clothes for you. I had to guess your size, so if anything doesn't fit, just let me know and I can return it."

Akito stared at the clothes she pulled out of the bag. All of them were small but fashionable women's shirts and pants.

"Why did you do that?"

Noa sighed. "I went to go see Hatori. He explained to me why you were pretending to be a man."

"Aren't you mad that I lied?"

Noa took the chair away from the desk in the room and pulled it up next to the bed. "Why would I be mad at something that isn't your fault?"

"So you just expect me to act like a girl now? Just because you know my secret?"

"Akito, I brought you here because I wanted to get to know the real you. I can't do that if you pretend with me."

"I don't have to share anything with you. You're just a stupid woman who's meddling in affairs that are none of your business."

"Maybe I am. And you're right. You don't have to share anything with me. But I would really like it if you did. I really do want to get to know you."

"If you get to know me, you'll hate me. And you'll just send me back."

"No. I already told you I don't plan on sending you back, at least not until the month is over. And after hearing what Hatori told me, the only person I really hate is your mother."

"Finally, something we agree on."

Noa smiled a little. "Eat some lunch, okay? It isn't healthy to starve yourself like that."

"I'm used to it."

Noa lost her smile. "What do you mean?"

Akito looked away from her. "It doesn't matter."

Unwilling to pry any further for fear Akito would put her already high guard up further, Noa got up from the chair and replaced it by the desk. She gave Akito another smile. "By the way, I bought five different kinds of ramen for dinner tonight."

Akito didn't smile, but Noa saw her eyes brighten just the tiniest bit.

When Noa stepped downstairs, the front door opened.

"Yuta?" Noa exclaimed.

"Hey, Mom!"

Noa laughed as her son hugged her tightly. "What are you doing back?"

"I had a free weekend, so I thought I would pop by. I saw the light in the guest room was on. Is Yuki here?"

"Actually, it's one of Yuki's relatives. Come on up, I'll introduce you." Noa leaned in close and lowered her voice. "I'm warning you right now, she's a little temperamental."

"I'm sure you're handling that well," Yuta joked.

Noa rolled her eyes and started up the staircase before going back to the guest room. "Akito?" she said as she knocked on the door. "May I come in? There's someone I want you to meet."

"Who?" Akito snapped.

"I see what you mean," Yuta whispered.

Noa opened the door to the room. "Akito, this is my son, Yuta. Yuta, this is Yuki's cousin, Akito Sohma. She's the head of the Sohma household."

Yuta smiled kindly. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Sohma."

Akito felt her heart skip a beat at being called 'Miss' for the first time in her life. It felt so much better than 'Master'. It felt…real.

"Yuta's going to be staying here for the weekend," Noa told her. She turned to her son. "We're having some ramen tonight for dinner."

"Sounds good!" Yuta answered. "I'm going to get my stuff into my room."

"All right."

Noa turned to leave.

"Noa," Akito said.

Noa turned back to face her.

"You said Yuta is going to move out soon."

"Yes, he's graduating from college next year, so he'll need to find a place of his own."

"How…how are you okay with him just…leaving? After everything you've done his entire life?"

"Akito, everyone has to leave home eventually. It's a part of growing up. Just because Yuta is leaving my house doesn't mean he's going to abandon me. It just means that he's ready to start his own life. He'll visit me when he can like he's doing now."

Akito remained silent at her words.

Noa realized Akito didn't understand the concept of people leaving home. In her mind, if someone left, they were completely abandoning her. She had no doubt that was a result of the zodiac bond in addition to Ren's horrific parenting. It made her want to return Akito back to Sohma house even less.

Noa went down the hall to Yuta's room and lightly knocked on the door. "Yuta, there's something I have to tell you."

"What's up?" Yuta replied.

Noa quietly shut the door so Akito wouldn't overhear their conversation. She sighed heavily as she crossed her arms. "I just found out that Akito is a girl yesterday."

"So I wasn't crazy. I knew Yuki always referred to Akito as a male."

"I spoke with Hatori today about it. You remember, he's the family doctor?"

"Yeah, I remember you talking about him. What'd he say?"

"Basically, her mother is a twisted human being who forced her to grow up as a male. Only a handful of the other Sohmas know about this. I mean, can you even imagine what this has done to her psychologically?"

Yuta slowly ran his hand through his hair. "It's hard to believe someone would do that to their child."

"I don't even know how to handle something like this."

"Well, if anyone can figure that out, it's you. From what I saw, I think you're making some semblance of progress. Even if she does seem to hate you right now, she's not completely averse to living here."

Noa wished that she had someone else to talk to about the whole zodiac curse. But she was sworn to silence.

Aside from Yuki, none of the few Sohmas she knew were allowed to know she knew of their curse lest Hatori erase all of her memories which would absolutely crush Yuki. And she couldn't discuss all this with Yuki because Akito scared him so much that talking about her with him would bring back some very unpleasant memories.

She had promised that she wouldn't tell Yuta, so he was out of the question.

She was completely alone.

With both Yuta and Akito in their separate rooms, Noa went back downstairs and walked over to the picture of Kei. She lightly ran her finger over the new frame.

"I wish you were here," she said quietly. "You always knew what to do. Even in the craziest of circumstances, you always had a plan. I just hope I'm doing what you would've done."

Kei's eye seemed to shine brighter in the picture as if he could hear every single word she said. With a melancholy smile, Noa reminded herself that though she could not talk to anyone about the curse, Kei would always be there to listen.


	7. Chapter 7

The next week with Akito proved to be less terrible and difficult than the first. Akito had somewhat adjusted to Noa's way of living, even wearing the clothes she had bought for her, and she had stopped having violent outbursts all the time. While she still yelled at Noa frequently, her tantrums had gradually become shorter and shorter since she now knew that Noa rarely budged on anything when her mind was set.

The longer Akito stayed at her house, Noa felt as if Akito wanted to let her in but refused to do it. After years of being told it was not possible for anyone to form a bond with her, Noa did not expect Akito to suddenly accept her with open arms no matter how nice she had been to her. It was going to take a lot more time before Akito stopped being afraid that Noa would just up and leave her if things got difficult.

Since Akito never handled fear very well, her overall frustration to her fears caused her to continue to lash out at her.

But contrary to what Ren had said, Noa dealt with Akito patiently and warmly every day. She reprimanded Akito when she lashed out or got angry over nothing, but all of her actions were done with nothing but love.

What Akito would never admit, and certainly not to Noa, was that she kind of liked being able to be herself around her. With Noa, she didn't have to pretend or lie or make sure she didn't slip about her gender or anything like that. She could do the same with Hatori, Shigure, and Kureno (and Ayame too, but Akito despised the man so much that she never came in contact with him), but with Noa, it was different. Around her, not only did Akito not have to pretend but she also didn't have to face the pressure of being the head of the household _and_ the god of the zodiac.

One day, Noa decided to travel to a dojo Yuki had told her about.

Once she arrived, she gently knocked on the sliding door.

It slid open, and for a brief second, Noa found herself lost in the kind eyes belonging to the person who had answered.

"Um, hi," she finally said when she found her voice. "I was looking for, um, Kazuma Sohma."

The silver-haired man smiled kindly. "You found him."

"Oh, um, I'm Noa Kaneko. It's nice to meet you."

"So you're the famous Noa. You've caused quite a stir at the main house."

Noa laughed lightly. "Yeah, that's me."

"Please come in."

"Thank you."

Noa removed her shoes and stepped inside the dojo. Kazuma led her to the large main room.

"What brings you here?" he asked.

"I wanted some advice."

"Oh? About what?"

"Yuki told me that you took in Kyo when he was a child. Something I wish I could have done with Yuki himself."

Kazuma nodded a little, knowing that the small child suffered during his childhood just as much as Kyo had.

"I've yet to meet Kyo, but I hear that he has got quite the temper."

"You haven't met Kyo?"

"Our paths have just never ended up crossing."

"Well, he's here right now. I can introduce you." Kazuma stepped away and entered one of the training areas. "Kyo, come here for a moment. There's someone you need to meet."

An orange-haired boy stepped out of the room and came into the main room where Noa was waiting.

"Kyo, this is Noa Kaneko. I'm sure you've heard of her."

"It's so nice to finally meet you after all this time," Noa smiled.

"You're that friend of Yuki's, right?" Kyo said.

"Yes. I've been wanting to meet you for so long, but you were never around when I visited."

Kyo decided not to tell her that was because he didn't really care about any of Yuki's friends (if Yuki was his enemy then any friend was an enemy too) and didn't feel like she was important enough to meet. It was the truth, but Kazuma would be pretty angry if he actually said it out loud.

"I'm aware you and Yuki don't get along, so you probably dislike me just by association, right?"

Kyo's eyes grew large in embarrassment, wondering if she could read minds. "No, it's…not that."

Noa laughed. "That sounds very convincing. Well, regardless, it's better late than never. I know Tohru absolutely adores you, so I at least want to make sure you're worthy of that girl."

Kyo's face turned bright scarlet. "I gotta get back to training."

Kazuma and Noa chuckled as he quickly left the room.

"Um, I never got to the real reason I came here," Noa said.

"Ah, yes, forgive me, I interrupted."

"No, it's fine."

"You wanted advice, yes?"

"Yeah, it actually has to do with Kyo. Uh…you raised him from a young age, and I just wanted to know if you had any advice for taking care of someone who not only is extremely temperamental but also suffers from a lot of emotional pain."

"Surely this all doesn't have to do with Yuki."

"Uh, no. I'm actually…looking after Akito."

Kazuma raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Akito is living with you right now?"

"Yes, and I know…he doesn't really like it, but I think he's warming up to me just a little bit."

Noa decided to keep Akito's true gender a secret. Hatori hadn't told her which of the four Sohmas knew her secret, but she had a feeling those four were members of the zodiac. She could tell Yuta because he was her own son and they were living in the same house so it was bound to come up sooner or later.

But telling a Sohma was a different story. When it came to her own family, it should be Akito's decision who knew and who didn't. And if they ever did find out, they should find out from her, not from Noa.

"How did you deal with Kyo's temper and all of the pain he felt?"

Kazuma sighed. "It wasn't always easy. Kyo was always surrounded by people giving him a hard time because of his mother's death and how he was burdening me. Things calmed down a little when I took him away from all of the talk, so you're probably on the right track there by getting Akito out of the main house. After that, I just always made sure to smile at him and show him how much I cared. I'm generally a pretty quiet person by nature, so I never really got angry with him. I think he got angry enough for the both of us."

"But didn't you ever have to discipline him?"

"Of course I did. And he didn't listen at first, but he eventually grew to respect me and then followed my rules."

"How long did that take?"

"Several months. Akito will probably take even longer since he's an adult."

Noa nodded. She had known that, but it was hard to hear.

"From what little I know about you, I think you're already doing a great job. The fact that you came here for advice proves how much you care about him. I guess the only thing I can really offer is to take things slowly. Don't try to change too much for him all at once. And accept the little things. Don't get frustrated when you don't make the progress you want to make."

Noa smiled a little. "Thank you, that's…very helpful."

"I'm glad I could be of service after you made the trip all the way out here."

"It wasn't too long. It's been a while since I've been to a dojo."

"You used to attend frequently?"

"Just to learn some self-defense so I could help my son."

"You have a son?"

"Yuta. He's a senior in college now. He's…everything to me."

"I know how that feels. He's very lucky to have you as a mother."

Noa smiled again. "Kyo is lucky to have you as a father."

The two adults smiled for a moment and Noa once again found herself getting lost in his kind eyes.

She laughed nervously. "I should get going."

"Miss Kaneko," Kazuma called before she left.

Noa turned back to face him. "Please, call me Noa."

"Noa…if you'd like, I could continue to teach you self-defense here every once in a while. Unless of course, your husband objects."

"Unfortunately, my husband passed away several years ago."

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry to hear that."

"Thank you. And…I would really like to take you up on that offer."

* * *

"Akito, come on, we're going shopping."

Akito didn't look up from the book she was reading. "Shopping is a waste of time."

"It's not if you want to have dinner on the table. And I want you to help me make it tonight."

"I have no business making meals. I have servants and chefs to do that for me."

"Maybe at Sohma house you do, but we're not at Sohma house right now. Besides, if you learn how to cook, you'll be able to tell your cooks exactly how you like your dishes prepared once you return home."

Akito rolled her eyes. Noa had an extremely annoying way of saying things that made her end up agreeing to her demands. It infuriated her to no end.

Nevertheless, Akito put her book down and stood up. "Let's just get this over with."

Noa just chuckled to herself. She had learned to put up with Akito's complaints, knowing she had not yet learned any other way to express herself.

The two women traveled down the street to the shops.

Akito reluctantly followed her into one of the local markets where Noa showed her which foods would make the best dinner for them.

Everything was so overwhelming to her. She had only been out into town a handful of times in her life and even when she did, she rarely stopped to go into stores and buy things.

On the way to another shop, Noa slowed when she realized Akito had stopped in front of a bookstore. She gazed at the many books inside with the most interest she had shown in anything for the entirety of her stay.

Noa wondered if Akito had ever seen a bookstore before. While staying with her, the young woman had read through several books in just a couple weeks. For someone who enjoyed reading, a bookstore was a small slice of heaven.

Noa smiled a little. "Akito, if you want to look around the bookstore while I finish shopping, that's fine with me."

Akito looked back at her in surprise. "I thought you said I had to shop with you."

"Well, we went to one place, and the rest isn't anything I can't handle. You'll learn plenty when we cook tonight. I'll just be a little while, so go ahead and see if you want anything."

Before Akito could say anything more, Noa had disappeared into one of the other shops. Hesitantly, Akito entered the bookstore.

About 45 minutes later, Noa finished all of her shopping and headed back to the bookstore.

The place was very small, so it wasn't hard for Noa to quickly learn that Akito wasn't inside.

Her heart thumping in her chest, Noa exited the store and walked down the street looking for the young woman.

Had she really taken so long that Akito got bored and wandered off on her own? Had she attempted to return back home? What if she was hopelessly lost by now?

The Sohma family was going to kill her.

"Man, she's so tiny," Noa heard someone laugh. "Good thing for me I like tiny girls."

"Hold her down," someone else said.

Noa followed the voices coming from the completely deserted back entrance of the bookstore.

Her stomach lurched when she came across the disturbing scene.

Three men she assumed to be in their late 20s had shoved Akito into the corner of the alleyway. Dirt smudged her clothing, and the top three buttons of her shirt were missing to reveal the white camisole she wore underneath.

She had her head down and didn't respond to anything the men were doing. It looked like she had lost the will to fight.

The bags fell from Noa's hand onto the ground. Some of the groceries spilled out but she didn't notice nor did she care.

"What do you want?" one of the men growled at her when he noticed her presence. "Can't you see we're a bit busy?"

Noa smirked a little. "Have any of you boys ever heard that you shouldn't mess with a Daddy's Girl? _Clearly_ , you haven't heard what happens when you mess with a Mama's Girl."

Her smirk disappeared, but none of the men seemed too perturbed.

"Hey, jus' get rid of her, will ya?" another of the men said to his friends.

One of the men walked up to her, but before he could do absolutely anything, Noa struck him in the throat, elbowed him in the midsection, then kneed him twice in the groin.

She pushed the side of his head and sent him to the ground and out of her way.

The other two remaining men looked at her in shock.

The next one came up to her much faster than the previous one and grabbed a fistful of her hair. Noa grabbed his hand and twisted him around until he was on the ground. From there, she kicked him in the face which caused him to let go of her hair and hold his broken nose.

The last man came at her from behind and wrapped his arms around her. Noa held onto his arms and lifted herself up enough for her foot to kick behind her right between his legs. It loosened his hold just enough for her to hit his chest and stomach in quick succession and then knock his head to the ground.

The second man knocked her feet out from under her which sent her flying to the hard ground. He immediately got up and pinned her down.

She could see the first man getting back up.

She rammed her knee into the one pinning her. When he lurched forward, she rolled over so that he was beneath her and punched his already broken nose.

Noa then took a small black object out of her pocket and turned just in time to jab it into the first man's stomach, sending jolts of electricity throughout his body.

She stood up, breathing heavily and looked at the taser in her hand. "Best ¥3000 I ever spent."

Noa quickly went over to Akito in the corner and gently pressed her hand to her arm.

Akito flinched at her touch.

"It's okay," she said tenderly. "Nothing is going to happen to you."

Akito finally looked up and saw the aftermath of Noa's fight with the three men. "You…you fought all of them?"

"Yes."

"How…?"

"When Yuta was very young, he got lost in the mall. And when I couldn't find him, I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to protect him if someone took him. So I started taking self-defense lessons just in case anything like that ever happened. I recently picked it back up."

"Why…why would you do that for me?"

"Akito, I was not going to let them hurt you."

"Did you…call me a…'Mama's Girl'?

Noa laughed lightly. "I did. I may not be your mother, but I am _a_ mother and since I'm looking after you, that kind of makes you my girl." She gently put her hand beneath Akito's chin and forced her to look up. "When something like this happens to you, do not ever give up. Do not stop fighting. Because I _will_ find you, and I _will_ protect you."

Akito felt like crying.

But she refused to do so in front of Noa. There was no way she was telling the truth. Once things got too difficult, she would stop looking for her. She would never stay by her side.

And yet…the injured men who now lay unconscious said a lot about how far Noa was willing to go to protect those she cared about.

Could Akito really trust Noa to keep her promise and always be around to protect her?

Noa stood up and extended her hand. "Come on. Let's go home."

Akito did not take her hand and stood up on her own. She slowly walked to the entrance of the alleyway and picked up one of the fallen bags.

It was a gesture that ultimately didn't mean much, but to Noa, it was a show that Akito was finally beginning to accept her.

One of the men stirred. Noa kneeled down and roughly took a fistful of his hair in her hand. "If you ever so much as _think_ of her again, a broken nose will be the least of your problems. Do I make myself clear?"

The man vigorously nodded his head in fear.

She released his head and stood back up before retrieving the rest of her groceries.

"Come on."

Akito stared at the man for a moment, slightly amused at the petrified look on his face and stunned that Noa wasn't afraid to threaten them in order to make sure they never hurt her again.


	8. Chapter 8

Kazuma threw a punch towards Noa. "How are things going with Akito? Any better?"

Noa dodged the punch and aimed a kick. "You know, it's weird. He's been pretty quiet the last couple days."

"Why is that?"

"Well, I took him out shopping with me because I wanted him to help me cook dinner so he could learn how to make food. I left him on his own for a little while, and three guys decided to rough him up a little."

"Oh, goodness, is he okay?"

"Yes, luckily, I found him before anything happened. And thanks to all of your help reteaching me and perhaps the help of a lovely little instrument known as the taser, I fought all of them."

"Three men? That's quite impressive."

"Well, the first one was pretty easy because they had no idea what I was capable of."

"That's usually an attacker's biggest mistake."

"The second one was a little harder, but I still broke his nose. However, the third one caught me from behind. Once I got out of his hold, the second one tripped me and pinned me down. I got out from under him and then tased the last one."

"I wish I had been able to see this."

"When I went to help Akito, he was pretty scared, but he was more…confused if that's the right word. Like he didn't understand why I would go to all that trouble to help him."

"Maybe because even though he's been surrounded by family his entire life, no one ever has gone to that kind of trouble for him before. So why would you, someone who isn't even a Sohma, want to do that unless you had some kind of ulterior motive?" Kazuma's eyes widened a little. "Not that _I_ think that, but maybe that's how Akito feels."

Noa laughed lightly. "I knew what you meant. And you're probably right. But it breaks my heart that he feels that way."

"Well, remember what I told you. Accept even the smallest changes. If Akito is acting the way he is, he may finally be starting to understand that the world isn't exactly how he's believed it to be. That's a slow process in and of itself."

Noa recalled Akito's face after she had saved her from the three thugs. It wasn't right that she seemed so shocked that someone would be willing to fight for her. What frustrated her even more was that Akito had given up fighting back because she had been under the impression that fighting was pointless since no one would want to save her.

For the millionth time, Noa wanted to slap Ren across the face for her terrible parenting.

Kazuma hit Noa on her back which sent her tumbling onto the floor of the dojo.

His eyes grew large again. "I am so sorry!" he said quickly. "Did I hurt you?"

"No," Noa smiled awkwardly. "It was my fault. I lost my focus."

Kazuma held his hand out for her. Noa smiled as she took it and he helped her stand.

"I think that's enough for today," Kazuma said.

"Yeah. Thank you again for all your help. This is…a really great stress-reliever. And it's also…really nice to talk about all of this with you."

Kazuma smiled warmly. "I'm glad I could be of help."

As Noa left the dojo, she sighed heavily. It was kind of exhausting and stressful to talk about Akito as if she were a man which, of course, everyone believed her to be. She had to make sure she used the right pronouns and adjusted her descriptions of things to fit the situation. If it was this exhausting just for her to talk about Akito, she couldn't imagine how hard it must've been all these years for her to actually be the one pretending to be the opposite gender.

She wondered what Akito would do when she went back to Sohma house. Would she continue to live as a male, or would her time with Noa lead her to tell the rest of the family her true identity?

She supposed she would just have to wait and see. She still had about two weeks left with Akito, and she didn't plan on thinking about her returning until the time came.

The last thing she wanted was for Akito to go back home.

* * *

Noa and Akito walked across the small bridge as they came home from the shops. Noa had taken her back to the bookstore for some actual looking without a repeat of their last experience and had happily bought three books Akito had wanted to get, something that didn't seem to fully register with the young woman.

Noa wondered if Akito had ever received an actual present before.

She was glad that Akito seemed less averse to going out to town with her and finally took an interest in something.

Akito stopped walking and put her hand to her forehead.

"You okay?" Noa asked.

Akito didn't answer. She swayed on her feet for a second and then promptly passed out. Unfortunately, the bridge they were crossing had very low railings, and Akito went tumbling down into the small stream below.

Noa dropped her bags and raced down to the water where Akito had landed facedown. She quickly waded in and pulled the young woman onto the grass near the water. She checked the back of her head and was thankful that there was no blood.

Fearing water had gotten into her lungs, Noa began pressing her hands onto Akito's chest. "Come on, come on, come on," she whispered. "Don't do this. Don't do this to me."

She could feel tears welling in her eyes at the thought of losing someone she had come to care for so much.

"Please, Akito, hold on. Come on."

She administered two breaths before continuing the chest compressions.

"It'll be okay. Come on. Come on, Akito! Please…please don't do this."

Suddenly, Akito lurched and coughed up some water.

Noa gasped with relief. "It's okay, you're okay."

Akito breathed heavily and coughed some more. Noa helped her sit up, comfortingly rubbing her hand against her back.

When Akito looked over at her, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Are those…tears?"

Noa wiped her cheeks. "You had me worried sick there."

"You…you're crying over me?"

Why was it so surprising for someone to shed tears for her? Did Akito really think that no one would mourn for her if something happened? "When I didn't know if I was going to get you back for a moment, I got really, really scared."

"You were just worried about what the people at Sohma house would to do to you if something happened to me, right?"

"Actually, that never even crossed my mind until you said that." Noa gently put her hands on hers. "Look, Akito, I know it's hard for you to believe, but I really do care about you. If anything happened to you, it would kill me."

Akito frowned. "You've only known me for barely two weeks."

"The first time I met Yuki, I only knew him for about six hours, and I spent the next two years thinking about him. When you care deeply about someone, it doesn't matter how long you know them."

"Why do you care so much about me anyway? I've given you nothing to care about."

"I care about you because you are worth caring about."

The response silenced Akito.

Noa carefully helped her stand up. "Come on, let's get back home so we can get you out of those wet clothes. You might've gotten dehydrated, so drink a lot of water when we get back, okay?"

Luckily, the bridge wasn't too far away from the house and they made it back in just a few minutes.

Noa let Akito shower and change into one of her yukatas while she made a bowl of warm soup accompanied by two bottles of water.

She started to throw away the soup can but paused when she opened the trash bin. The breakfast she had made that morning had been tossed inside.

Akito came downstairs and wavered again for a moment. Noa rushed to her side and gently helped her sit down in one of the dining room chairs so she didn't hurt herself if she ended up collapsing again.

"Akito, did you not eat breakfast this morning?" she asked.

Akito didn't answer her.

"Why didn't you say anything? I offered to buy you some lunch while we were out."

"I didn't want it."

Noa knelt down so that Akito's head was higher than hers. "I need you to talk to me. If I'm making stuff you don't like, just tell me what you do like and I'll be happy to make it."

"It's not that."

"Okay, so why aren't you eating? Do you feel sick?"

There was a long pause, and Noa thought Akito wasn't going to answer once again until she finally said quietly, "I'm used to not eating."

"What do you mean?"

Akito looked away from her. "Growing up, my mother made me skip meals. She said it was to keep me skinny so that I could pass for a boy even when I got older."

Now Noa felt sick. Just when she thought Ren could not get any worse, someone added something even more horrible to the whole mess that was Akito's life.

"I just got used to eating very little, but I guess I…overdid it this time."

This confession was the first time Akito had ever been completely transparent with Noa, and while she hated hearing that she had to endure such an awful thing, she was glad Akito had gotten to the point where she was comfortable enough to share it with her.

"It's no wonder Hatori had to look after you so often at the main house. All right, for the rest of the time you're here, I'm going to make sure you're eating three meals a day and drinking plenty of water. We can start with this soup and the bottles of water right here."

Akito hesitantly took the spoon on the table and sipped some of the soup. It was nice and warm and had everything in it that she loved.

"Finish that, and then the two of us are going to work out some food that you like so we can get you eating well again." She lightly put her hand on Akito's. "I'm genuinely sorry Ren put you through something like that."

Akito didn't understand why Noa did so much for her sake the entire time she had stayed here. It was one thing for the servants to constantly dote on her and for the members of the zodiac to fulfill her wishes, but Noa was doing everything for her for no other reason than that she wanted to.

Was it truly possible that…Ren had been completely wrong?

Ren was wrong about a lot of things, but Akito had always secretly feared she had been right about one thing: that the bonds between her and the members of the zodiac meant nothing and that they would all leave her if they could. But this woman was not even a member of the zodiac and had no bond that forced her to be kind to her, but she still went to great lengths to take care of her and protect her. Could it truly be that…someone could love her just the way she was?

* * *

"Hey, Mom!" Yuta smiled as he came inside to find Noa sitting at the dining room table. "Are things with Akito any better?"

"Yes and no. Just when I think I've got her figured out, I find something else about her that completely throws me for a loop."

Yuta took a seat across from her. "She's really had a tough run, huh?"

"You have no idea. It's nearly time for me to take her back to Sohma house, but I feel like I've barely made any progress with her."

"Well, if she's had it as tough as you say, one month isn't going to completely change everything."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just worried about what's going to happen when she goes back home. I don't want everything we've accomplished here, what little there is, to end up being for nothing."

"You've been working so hard to get her to open up to you. Why don't I spend the day with her tomorrow?"

"Why?"

"I think Akito's afraid that if she lets you in and something happens to you, she'll be right back where she started. Maybe by spending time with me, she'll come to see that more than one person cares about her."

Noa smirked a little. "It's nice to see that college education is paying off."

Yuta laughed lightly.

"All right, that sounds good to me. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, the ocean isn't too far from here, so maybe we could walk along the beach? The water might be a little cold this time of year, but it's been pretty nice outside lately. And there's lots of shops around there that we could visit."

"Great. Make sure that she puts on sunscreen because the last thing we need is that girl getting sunburned."

"Got it."

"And Yuta? This is important. You _have_ to make sure she eats."

"I will."

"Get her a healthy lunch and then a few light snacks throughout the rest of the day. We both know how stubborn she is, but you can't take no for an answer. She _has_ to eat."

Yuta had a feeling that more was going on here than he knew since his mother was stressing the point so much, but he just agreed to it.

Noa smiled. "I know I'm giving you a lot of rules here but do enjoy yourselves and show her a good time."

"I plan on it."


	9. Chapter 9

The next day, Noa picked out a pink and purple spaghetti-strap sundress for Akito to wear on her day out with Yuta.

Akito had only interacted with Yuta a handful of times when he had stayed home for a weekend, and she wasn't sure what to say or do. She had never been alone with a boy before who wasn't a member of the Sohma family.

It was one thing to be alone with Noa, but it was another thing to be alone with her son.

"What's it like being the head of such a large family?" Yuta asked as he drove.

"It's…a lot of work," Akito answered, trying to commandeer her usual dominant attitude. "But everyone respects me. I share a very close bond with several members of the family, and one day soon, all of them will come together and stay with me forever."

"Forever's a pretty long time. Don't you think that things can change between now and then?"

"They have no choice. It is how things have always been."

"I understand keeping tradition, but what if you all want to do different things? What if one of the members wants to travel the world or get a different job or find a spouse or raise a family?"

"That is impossible," she answered quickly enough to give him pause. "They are not capable of leaving me like that."

Yuta's mother had been right about Akito having attachment issues. She really planned on keeping these members of the family by her side at all times. He could only imagine the tactics someone with her temper used to achieve that goal.

"Okay. Well, what if _you_ wanted to do something different? What if life had a way of opening up more options for you?"

Akito didn't know what to say without revealing the secret of the bonds she shared with those under the zodiac curse. No one outside of the Sohma family could possibly understand their way of life.

But would he think poorly of her if he knew how important those bonds were to her and how much she planned her life around them?

Wait a minute, why was she so concerned with what he thought about her?

"Change can be pretty scary," Yuta continued. "I'm sure even you were a little intimidated when you left the only home you've ever known and came to stay with my mom. But it can be for the best in the end. I mean, I've noticed a change in you just from the short period of time I've known you. I don't exactly know how to describe it, but it's a good difference."

Had she really changed so much in a matter of three weeks?

She could admit to herself that her heart had become less hardened towards Noa though not completely accepting just yet.

Noa was the first one who hadn't put up with anything Akito dished out. The other people in the Sohma family accepted whatever she did to them either because she was the head of the family or because they were under the zodiac curse and didn't have a choice.

Having someone defy her had made her so angry at first and still did, but the more Noa continued to do it, the more Akito began to see that her ways of running the family weren't for anyone's benefit except her own.

And she hated that. Because if Noa was right, and Akito was slowly beginning to see that she was, that meant that Akito had been wrong all these years. And if Akito hated anything, it was being wrong.

Yuta parked the car and hopped out so he could open Akito's door for her.

She stepped out and waited for him to retrieve his bag from the backseat.

Once they had reached the sand, Yuta took his shoes off and placed them in his bag. "Want me to take yours too?" he asked Akito.

Akito hesitantly slipped her flip-flops off and handed them to Yuta. The warm sand dug in between her toes.

She felt a littler nervous at the sight of the large body of water in front of her. She had never been to the beach before. Sure, she had been to the Sohma family beach house before, but she never actually went _to_ the beach. She generally hated being outside in the sun since she tended to burn very easily not to mention she always had to wear a lot of clothing in order to mask her gender.

However, wearing her light sundress made being outside much more tolerable, and she could sort of understand why so many people seemed to enjoy it.

Yuta gently took her hand and began to walk forward with her. "It's a perfect day for this," he smiled.

Akito noticed that it was really rare for Yuta to not smile. She wasn't sure she could recall a time where he wasn't smiling. A part of her wondered if that was due to having Noa as a mother. Another part of her wondered what she might have been like if she too had grown up with Noa as her mother instead of Ren. How would Noa have handled dealing with a child who was the god of a curse that could only be found in storybooks?

Would she be like little Momiji's mother and ask Hatori to erase every memory of her child, would she be like young Hiro's mother who happily accepted her child for every part of who he was, or would she be like Rin's parents who pretended everything was okay until they just snapped?

Yuta set his bag down on the sand and took out a white bottle. "Here, put some of this on. Mom will kill me if you end up getting burned."

Akito took the bottle of sunscreen and squeezed some of it into her palm before rubbing it on her arms, legs, and face.

"May I get your back?"

She hoped he couldn't tell that she blushed a little at the question.

"I would prefer you didn't," she answered. "But seeing as I don't want my back to get burned, I suppose I don't have a choice."

She thrust the bottle in his direction without looking at him.

Yuta just laughed lightly and gently rubbed some sunscreen onto the portion of her back that was exposed. He found it really cute how she continued to act like she hated everything in order to mask how she really felt inside.

Akito could feel her face heating up even more as Yuta hands rubbed her back but she was sure it was just the hot sun blazing down on her causing that.

Yuta put the bottle back in his bag and walked towards the water. The tide rushed up to meet his feet and quickly soaked them which caused him to shiver a little.

He turned and smiled at Akito before holding his hand out to her. "Come here. It's really cold, but it kinda feels good."

Akito once again looked away from him. "I can't swim," she said with as much dignity as she could muster.

Yuta laughed again. "That's all right, it's too cold to go in too far. But don't worry, I'll protect you."

Akito's heart skipped a beat. Would he really protect her if something happened to her? If he was anything like his mother, he probably wouldn't hesitate for a second.

But there was no reason at all for him to do anything for her. He didn't know her nearly as well as Noa did. Would he still do whatever it took to keep her safe?

She took a few nervous steps towards the water. When the tide rushed in again, it washed over her feet and she frantically hopped back in alarm.

"That's freezing!" she exclaimed. "How could you possibly enjoy this?!"

"I didn't think it was _that_ cold. You just have to get used to it. Come here."

Akito went forward again so she was standing next to him. Once more, the water rushed over her feet and though she desired to step back again, she stayed put for fear of Yuta teasing her.

Yuta took a few more steps in and shivered. "Man, this really is cold."

"So why are you going further into the water?"

"Because the sun is hot so this kind of evens everything out."

She could admit that the sun beating down on her shoulders _was_ starting to make her sweat and the water on her feet wasn't that cold anymore since her body had adjusted to the temperature.

She nervously ventured out further as well.

"Look at you!" Yuta praised. "Coming out here all on your own!"

"I am not a child you need to coddle," she snapped.

Yuta held his hands up in mock surrender. "Yes, ma'am."

Akito inwardly sighed. Why was it so hard for her to talk to people without getting angry at them? Why was it so hard to talk to _him_?

Suddenly, a wave larger than both of them expected when so close to the shore came crashing into their legs.

Yuta was prepared for it, but Akito had no idea such a small wave could have enough power to knock her over which was precisely what happened.

Before she splashed down into the cold water, Yuta's arms reached out and quickly pulled her into him.

"You okay?" he asked.

Akito just nodded, wondering if Yuta knew how tightly he was holding her.

Yuta could feel her shaking in his hold, no doubt from the frigid water they were standing in and probably from the shock of nearly falling. Without thinking, he gently scooped her up into his arms.

"What are you doing?" Akito asked quickly.

"Let's get back onto the sand so you can dry off. Good thing Mom recommended I bring a couple towels."

Yuta began carrying her back to the shore where he had set down his bag.

For reasons Akito didn't understand, her heart had begun to pound in her chest. She could feel Yuta's muscles on her legs and back and a toned stomach beneath his shirt as he held her close to him.

Akito had always loved being held. She could remember from a young age asking Hatori to carry her and Shigure holding her to get her to sleep. Just recently, Hatori had carried her to her room after yet another fight with Ren. Whenever she needed consoling, Hatori would hold her. Shigure used to hold her until he screwed everything up and got himself kicked out of the main house.

She had always thought asking for them to hold or carry her was a way for her to strengthen her bonds with them. But even now, she enjoyed the feeling of Yuta, someone who didn't even have that kind of bond with her, carrying her.

His body was warm against hers both from the hot sun and from their skin contact. Normally when people held her, she wore her yukata not this type of revealing dress. Feeling his hot skin on her own made her heart beat even faster.

When Yuta set her back down onto the sand, a large part of her longed for him to continue holding her.

Why…why did he make her feel this way?

Unaware of all the gears turning in Akito's head, Yuta took one of the towels out of his bag and handed it to her. She took it, letting her fingers brush over his for a split second. It sent a spark through her that felt more surprising than the cold water hitting her feet just minutes before.

The bottom of her dress had gotten a bit wet from the large wave so she attempted to dry that off as best she could. It didn't take too long for her to warm again due to the sun shining down on her.

"You wanna walk along the beach?" Yuta asked. "I'll make sure I'm on the look-out for any more of those surprise waves."

"Fine," Akito answered shortly.

Yuta wondered if she was angry with him for causing her to get wet or for carrying her without her permission. Either way, she had agreed so at least he had that going for him.

He wondered if she knew just how pretty she was. His mother really had a sense of style, and the dress she had picked out for Akito to wear fit her perfectly. He was aware he had only known her for a couple weeks, but he felt as if he could look at her forever. Of course, he had no intention of telling anyone, not even his own mother, about that.

* * *

As Noa approached Shigure's house, she saw Yuki step outside.

His eyes widened when he saw her and he immediately bolted over to her. He would've hugged her out of relief had it not been for the curse.

"Noa!" he exclaimed.

"Hey, Yuki."

"Are you okay?"

"Calm down, I'm fine."

"Akito didn't hurt you, did he?"

"He tried to. But I didn't let him."

"No one's ever done that with Akito before."

"Yes, I'm sure you can imagine how well that went over with him. But it turns out that I'm just faster at catching his arm than he is at hitting my face."

The idea of Akito being stopped from hurting someone, especially Noa, brought a little bit of joy to Yuki. He wished he could have seen it himself.

"Yuki, I'm a 40-year-old woman. I can handle dealing with someone who's just barely out of his teens. You don't have to worry about me so much."

"But I was. I know what Akito is capable of. I didn't want him to do anything to you. I wanted to come by and see if you were all right, but I was just…afraid."

"I understand," Noa replied, knowing how much Akito terrified Yuki. "That's okay. In fact, you should worry more about the three thugs who attacked me while I was out one afternoon."

Yuki's eyes widened again. "Wait a minute, what?!"

"Oh, it's okay. You can just ask the one with the broken nose."

Yuki smiled a little bit. Even after all this time, Noa continued to surprise him. "Where's Akito now then if he's not with you?"

"Yuta's spending the day with him."

"He won't…hurt Yuta, will he?"

"No. We've managed to get to a point where Akito isn't violent with us anymore, at least not physically. He still uses those pretty harsh verbal barbs though. But getting out of the main house has been really good for him. I've seen that he has a lot more layers than I thought he did, and I've come to understand why he is the way he is."

Yuki frowned. "You mean you think it's okay what he's done?"

"No," Noa answered firmly. "I will never attempt to justify what he did to you. I may not know what exactly happened, but I know it's not good and it's nothing you deserved to go through. What I'm saying is that there's a lot going on that you don't know about, and things are much more complicated than I thought they were."

Yuki crossed his arms. "As long as you're okay."

Noa lightly tussled his hair. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm tougher than I look."

Yuki laughed lightly. "Want to come inside? I think Miss Honda is just finishing with lunch."

"As long as she doesn't mind the extra guest."

"I'm sure she won't."

"That girl would probably let a burglar join her at the table."

Yuki laughed again. "Kyo and I had the exact same thought."

* * *

Noa turned her head as the door opened and Yuta and Akito stepped inside.

"Hey, welcome back!" she smiled. "How was your day?"

"It was great!" Yuta replied. "We walked along the beach and then we stopped inside several of the stores. Then we got lunch at this awesome restaurant that served the most incredible soup."

"Sounds like you had fun. Akito, did you have a good time?"

Akito refused to look at either of them. "It was better than the rest of the time I've spent at this place."

Noa took note that that was the first time she hadn't included 'stupid' or 'wretched' when mentioning her house. "I take it that means yes. You must be pretty exhausted. I have a bath all ready for you in the upstairs bathroom, so you can go up there and soak for as long as you want. When you're done with that, I'll heat up some dinner."

Akito went up the stairs to take a bath, slightly stunned that once again, Noa had gone extremely out of her way to provide comfort for her.

Once Akito had disappeared, Noa and Yuta sat down on the couch.

"Okay, how'd everything go?" Noa asked.

"It really was good. She kept trying to pretend that she hated it, but I know she enjoyed being out and about. She ate really well too, and thankfully, she didn't get too burned. Her skin was a little red, but the bath will probably take care of that."

"I'm glad things went well."

"Hopefully, she now understands that more than one person outside of the Sohma family cares about her and she'll be a little more open to letting both of us in."

He left out how he had felt after he had rescued Akito from falling into the water. When he had picked her up, he had just wanted to get her out of the water so she would stop shaking. But as he held her tiny body in his arms that was much lighter than it should've been, he suddenly had an overwhelming urge to protect her from everything. He wanted to hold her forever if it meant that she would never have to go through anything terrible ever again.

"I'm proud of you, Yuta. You've handled all this far better than I thought you would."

"Well, I want to help her as much as you do. By the way, where's _my_ bath?"

"You hate baths. But the shower's open."

Yuta laughed as he went inside the downstairs bathroom.

Upstairs, Akito sat in the tub replaying over the events of the day. If she was being completely honest with herself, it was the most fun day she had ever had in her entire life. She hadn't had to worry about running the Sohma house or the zodiac members or anything Sohma-related at all. She hadn't realized how relaxing that could be.

Yuta had treated her to a nice restaurant along with a crepe for dessert from one of the crepe trucks. She had a feeling Noa had told him to make sure she ate because he had been particularly pushy about her eating lunch.

He had also bought her a small keychain with the Japanese lucky cat attached to it, saying that he hoped it would bring her good luck when she ended up having to go back to the main house. She could still remember the feeling of his hand touching hers to close her fingers around the cat and the incredibly tender smile he had given her.

She sank further beneath the water as she recalled how he had made her feel when he had carried her.

Akito had only ever had romantic feelings for Shigure. Part of her still held those feelings even after everything that had happened, but she didn't know if she could ever truly be with him again after knowing what he did and how he had betrayed her.

She also didn't know how much of the feelings shared between them were a result of the zodiac bond. It was entirely possible Shigure only believed he was in love with her and vice versa because of the curse.

Akito knew that Noa cared for her. She kept trying to deny it and push Noa away, but she had done so much for her that by this point, it was pointless to try to believe anything else.

If Noa could come to care about her as a person, she wondered if Yuta could come to care about her as a woman.

But she still greatly feared that once they both found out the things she had done in the past, they would inevitably end up leaving her.


	10. Chapter 10

On the last day of Akito's stay, Noa dressed Akito in the same purple and pink dress she had worn on her day out with Yuta.

Then Noa drove her out of town to a special place she had planned on taking Akito since the week before.

Akito's eyes widened a little when she finally saw where Noa had brought her.

It was a large garden full of cherry blossom trees that were in full bloom.

There were several cherry blossom trees surrounding the main house, but that was nothing compared to how many there were here.

"I thought this was the best place for us to spend time together on your last day with me," Noa smiled.

The two of them got out of the car and started walking down the path that went through the large garden. Many of the cherry blossoms had fallen and decorated it with their petals.

Most of the people who had come to admire the cherry blossoms wore kimonos or yukatas. Noa had considered having Akito wear one, but she had worn a yukata for enough of her life. And for all she knew, this might be the last day Akito could ever wear regular girls' clothing.

"I've never actually been to a cherry blossom viewing before," Noa told her. "But now was as good a time as ever. I'm glad I got to bring you with me."

After they walked for a couple more minutes, Noa went over to one of the cherry blossom trees and plucked a blossom off it. Then she went back over to Akito and gently placed the flower behind her ear so it stood out against her black hair.

"You're beautiful," she smiled.

Akito felt a very odd feeling in her stomach. She tried to remember if anyone had ever called her beautiful before, but nothing came to mind.

The problem was that everyone thought she was a man, and 'beautiful' was not a word people used to describe a man, at least not to his face. The four who knew her true gender had not called her beautiful before, and even if they had, she wouldn't have believed them.

"Akito, there's something I need to talk to you about."

The feeling quickly depleted.

This was it. This was the moment Noa was going to abandon her. It was the moment where she would tell her she never wanted to see her again.

Noa led her to one of the benches on the side of the path and made her sit down next to her. She took a deep breath, suddenly nervous about what she wanted to say. "I promised that I wouldn't say anything, but I think you deserve to know."

With the confession that Noa didn't want to see her anymore, Akito would win their little deal. She could have Yuki all to herself.

But she found that…she didn't want to win.

"I know all about the zodiac curse."

Akito's head snapped over to make direct eye contact with her. Of all the things she expected Noa to say, that had most definitely not been one of them.

"You…you know?" she mustered out.

"Yes."

"How…how long?"

"Since I first met Yuki eight years ago."

Akito felt all of her breath leave her lungs. If she had known that long, then that meant…she had known the entire time she had been staying at her house.

"How much do you know?"

"Yuki's told me everything he knows. So I know which members of the Sohma family are cursed and what their spirit is though I haven't met any of them aside from Kyo, Shigure, Kureno, and Hatori. I also know that you're the god of the zodiac and that you rule over all of them with a very strong bond."

"You're saying that when you first came to see me, you knew all of this…and you still invited me to come live with you?"

"Yes."

"But…why? Why would you do that…knowing who and what I am?"

"Because all I ever heard about was how much people equally respected and feared you. And you had such a terrible temper that I had guessed was from being the head of the household and never having anyone refuse you. Not only did I want to teach you a little bit of discipline, but I also knew how strongly you held onto the zodiac bonds and I wanted you to know what it was like to have someone who genuinely cared about you without that bond. And I wanted to show you that it is entirely possible to have a relationship with someone without putting the fear of God in them. Quite literally in your case."

"Does Yuta know about any of this?"

"No. I promised Yuki that I wouldn't tell anyone I knew because he was terrified that I would have to have my memories erased if anyone found out."

"So you know about Hatori's ability."

"Yes."

Of course, Yuki had been right. Had Akito known that Noa had found out their secret all those years ago, she most definitely would have ordered Hatori to erase her memories. It would've broken him enough so he would have learned that only she could truly want him.

It was so…cruel of her to be that way.

"You…you took me in…and did so much for me…knowing my secret?"

"And I don't regret a single moment of it." She slightly grimaced. "Well, maybe one thing. I shouldn't have called you a spoiled child."

"I shouldn't have called you a stupid woman."

Noa laughed lightly and gently moved Akito's hair behind her ear. "What I now realize is that you are a strong and beautiful woman who I have been very privileged to know. I don't care that you're the head of the Sohma family or that you're the god of the zodiac. To me, you are first and foremost Akito Sohma. And she is pretty incredible."

Akito felt like crying again. "I need a moment alone."

She sprang up off the bench and quickly walked away. Noa decided to give her her moment, knowing she had probably just put a lot on her all at once.

It must be a pretty startling revelation for her to know that someone accepted her, god and all.

Akito leaned against one of the cherry blossom trees and pressed her hand to her mouth. Then the tears began to flow down her cheeks and she was powerless to stop them.

After all this time of only being with Sohmas and afraid that no one would ever accept her outside of the members of the zodiac, this woman came into her life without warning and accepted her despite everything she had put her through.

When Akito tried to hit her or verbally abuse her, she still accepted her. When she made life increasingly difficult for her, she still accepted her. When she found out that she had been lying about her gender, she still accepted her and allowed her to live as her true self. When she had nearly been assaulted, she had beat her attackers to a pulp to protect her.

And now…she learned that she had done all of that knowing the truth of their curse, and she still accepted her.

Was this what is was like to have…a mother? Someone who accepted her no matter what she did? Someone who always looked out for her and desired to keep her safe from all harm?

Was this what it was like to be…truly loved?

* * *

Noa stopped her car in front of the main house, her heart heavy. It was hard to believe that the month with Akito had already come to an end. She wished she could keep her at her home forever and away from all of the toxic relationships she had here.

She just hoped that everything she had learned and felt while staying at her home continued to stay with her now that she was back at Sohma house.

"All right, I believe this is everything," Noa said as she pulled the last bag out of the trunk. "Akito, I really enjoyed having you stay with me. If you ever want to come over again at any time, the guest room will be open to you. You're welcome to come back whenever you'd like."

Three servants opened the large gates and bowed towards Akito. "Welcome back, Master Akito," they said together.

Akito visibly grimaced when they called her 'Master'. After nearly four whole weeks of living as herself, it was more difficult to go back to her previous life than she had expected.

Noa wondered what Akito would do now. Would she choose to reveal her true self to everyone, or would she continue to keep that part of herself hidden? Would doing such a thing completely undo everything Noa had accomplished in her?

The servants grabbed Akito's bags for her. Akito began to walk through the gates when she paused.

"Noa."

Noa looked up at the retreating girl.

Akito didn't look at her as she told her, "As far as Yuki goes…you can continue to see him. And all of the other members for all I care."

"Thank you," Noa said.

"And…the gates of Sohma house will always open for you. You can come inside…whenever you want. You…can tell Yuta that…the same goes for him."

Noa smiled warmly. "Until then."

Akito and the servants disappeared behind the large double doors.

Noa breathed out a sigh of relief. After an entire month, Akito had finally accepted her. She hadn't said the exact words, but she had accepted her all the same.

Things were far from perfect and Noa was aware that Akito still had her doubts about letting Noa in. It would probably take a lot more time until she was fully comfortable around her.

But now that the main house was open to her, Noa had no intention of backing away.


	11. Chapter 11

Noa opened the door to a shop and a small bell rang above it announcing her presence.

"Welcome, my darling customer!" a flamboyant voice rang out. "You've made one step in making your life greater! Whatever your dreams or desires, you can be sure that they will be fulfilled here!"

The silver-haired man with the dramatic voice came into view and eagerly clutched Noa's hands.

"Yours truly will work tirelessly to ensure your satisfaction!"

"So what I've heard is true," Noa smirked. "You really are extremely hyper."

"Oh, so you've heard of me? Well, it's only natural you would then seek out my services. After all, you'll never find another clothing designer as perfect as I am."

"And very full of yourself. I'm Noa Kaneko. It's nice to finally meet you…Ayame Sohma."

Ayame's eyes sparkled. "You're _the_ Noa Kaneko? The one who looks after my darling little brother? Why didn't you say so sooner?"

"Because I couldn't get a word in. If it's all right, I'd like to treat you to lunch."

"Ah, perfect timing, I was just about to head out." He turned to the back of the shop. "Mine, dearest, I'll be back momentarily! Watch the shop while I'm gone!"

"You got it, boss!" a female voice replied from the back room.

Ayame quickly grabbed Noa's hand and rushed out of the store before she had time to take a breath. "Now come along, I know the perfect place. I'm surprised it's taken you so long to seek me out. Surely, Yuki has talked about me and how much he adores me. And since you care so much for my adorable brother, I'm sure you'll come to love me as well. Yuki and I may be different, but we share plenty of similarities. True, I don't exactly know what they are, but I'm sure they're there."

"Well, actually—"

"Here we are!"

Ayame pulled Noa into a small little restaurant and proceeded to sit down at one of the tables.

"I know exactly what you should get. Don't worry, ma'am, I shall order for you!"

And he did just that. Without any input from Noa, Ayame placed orders for the both of them.

Then he laced his fingers together and placed them under his chin. "So, please, tell me how you met Yuki and how you've managed to forge such a wonderful bond with him. I could use some pointers. Deep down, I know Yuki worships me, but I'm having trouble getting him to understand how much he appreciates all of my wonderful qualities."

"Yuki is—"

"Miss Noa, I have heard many things about you from the main house, but I'm quite intrigued to know why you have stayed by Yuki's side for so long and then later interfered with affairs at the main house."

"Well, I wanted—"

"Yuki must've talked about me, and you just _had_ to meet me, isn't that right? I'm even more lovely in person, aren't I? The bold age of 26 and I'm still going strong! You don't find many people who have their life figured out at 26, do you? It's just goes to show how perfect God has made me! It doesn't seem fair that one such as I can be so utterly extraordinary, but I suppose some of us are just luckier than others."

"Oh, my goodness, please stop talking!" Noa begged.

Ayame looked at her in confusion. "Is there a problem?"

"I now understand why you and Yuki aren't very close. I have never met someone who talks so highly of himself before."

"Oh, I simply must tell you about this one time—"

"No!" Noa interrupted firmly. "No. I'm talking right now."

For the first time in his life, Ayame shrank back under stern words that didn't come from Hatori. He had received the 'stern-mother' look and it was much more terrifying than the looks his own mother gave him seeing as she never cared enough to put any effort into raising Ayame. Did mothers always have such scary faces when they were angry?

Noa sighed, finally getting a little bit of quiet. "Let me go over what's happened so far. You dragged me to this restaurant almost literally, you ordered for me without asking what I wanted, and then you asked me several questions but gave me no time to answer any of them. Do you see the problem there?"

"I tend to get a bit excited sometimes, especially where my brother is concerned. I must admit, I've wanted to meet you for quite some time, but Yuki would never let me."

"Well, there's reasons for that beyond the fact that he doesn't get along with you. And from what he tells me, he has a good reason for that."

Ayame's eyes lost their sparkle for the first time all day and he gave a sad smile. "Yes. He does."

Noa was surprised he admitted that so readily.

"He still won't tell me what he went through at the main house, but whatever it was, I should've been there to help him. Instead, I acted selfishly and put my own needs above his. It haunts me every day, Miss Noa. I've tried to make amends, but nothing I do seems to work."

"Ayame, how many times do you have an actual conversation with Yuki?"

"I don't know, maybe once every two weeks or so if I'm lucky."

"No. I mean a two-way conversation in which Yuki actually gets the chance to talk as well. I'm gonna guess that the answer is never if what I've witnessed so far is anything to go by. I think what you need to do is focus on letting him talk sometimes. Just start with fifteen or even just five minutes of uninterrupted conversation. That means you do not say a word until he is done talking."

"Five…minutes?"

"Okay, if that's too daunting, even just one minute would be a start. A full 60 seconds of you not saying anything while he's talking. I know he would really appreciate it and it would make a world of difference. And for the love of mercy, you have _got_ to get yourself off your astronomically high pedestal."

"It's accurately high."

"Guess again."

Ayame chuckled a little. He could understand why Yuki loved this woman so much. She said what people needed to hear even if it wasn't pretty, and she didn't hesitate to get her point across. She also had a way of talking bluntly but warmly at the same time.

"Look, I'm sure you're aware that you and Yuki are polar opposites. But I don't think you take it into account when you're with him. He's shy and reserved and he will only open himself up to people that he really trusts. The thing about trust is that it is so hard to gain and so easy to lose. You're going to have to work hard to get it back. That means that you stop worshipping yourself, you stop thinking everyone else needs to worship you, and you start thinking about what's best for him."

"Miss Noa…may I ask…how you became so close with him?"

"I listened to him. But I listened to more than what he was saying. I listened to the way he said things, and I listened to all the subtext. And then I made sure that everything I did for him was in his best interests."

"It doesn't seem fair that someone like you who has no business with the Sohma family is closer to him than his own flesh and blood. But then, I suppose there's no one to blame for that except me."

Noa looked at him sadly. At least he could admit he was wrong. That was usually the hardest step.

"I apologize, Miss Noa, for being so rash this afternoon."

"Apologies are a pretty big step, Ayame. Have you ever personally said 'I'm sorry' to Yuki for what happened and for what you did?"

Ayame looked down at the table. "That could never make up for what I put him through."

"No, but those two words go a really long way. I think I would start with that. Don't embellish it or add unnecessary nothings. Just walk up to him and tell him you're sorry. If you keep putting off actually saying the words, Yuki may never really know that you're actually remorseful about what happened."

Ayame gave her another small smile. "I'm glad you found him."

Noa smiled back. "He found me."

A waiter came to the table and placed the two dishes in front of them.

Noa picked up her chopsticks and took a small bite. Then she smiled again at Ayame. "I have to admit, you may be rash but you have pretty good judgment. This is amazing."

* * *

Noa took to visiting the main house nearly every day to see Akito. On some days, she was too busy to make the trip, but as much as she loved spending time with Akito, she wanted to teach her that just because she wasn't able to see her every day didn't mean that she was completely abandoning her or didn't care about her.

It took a little while for Akito to stop having tantrums whenever Noa missed a day, but gradually, she reluctantly accepted that Noa had a life of her own and couldn't stay by Akito's side every second.

On some days when Noa couldn't make it to the main house, Yuta stopped by from college and visited with Akito as well.

She remained the hard-headed girl he had met, but he just continued to smile at her and laugh at all of her verbal barbs. He knew that her attitude was simply a defense mechanism, and he quickly got used to it and made some light-hearted retorts of his own here and there.

Akito had yet to reveal her true gender to everyone else in the Sohma family. Noa didn't pressure her about it, but she wondered how long the girl could handle having everyone refer to her as male when she knew she just wanted to be addressed and treated like a female.

Noa also continued visiting Kazuma's dojo and taking self-defense lessons from him. She had started going only once a week, but soon she was making the trip at least three times a week if not more. Neither she nor Kazuma even realized just how often she was coming to the dojo until Kunimitsu, Kazuma's assistant, pointed it out.

On one occasion, she ended up staying later than she had planned.

Noa looked at the clock on the wall. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm cutting into your dinnertime, aren't I?"

Kazuma laughed kindly. "My dinnertime varies. Sometimes I end up teaching students well into the night and don't eat until very late. But since I'm usually by myself seeing as Kyo is at Shigure's, it's not too big of a deal."

"You eat alone every night?"

"Well, not every night. Sometimes, Kunimitsu will join me. However, seeing as he is busy tonight, would you like to have dinner with me, Noa?"

Noa raised her brow in surprise. "You're inviting me over for dinner?"

"Yes. Is that bad?"

Noa laughed awkwardly. "No, I, uh…I'd love to join you."

Kazuma smiled. "Wonderful. Then let us depart."

The two of them made the short journey from the dojo to Kazuma's house.

"Make yourself comfortable," Kazuma told her as they stepped inside. "I'll start making us something."

"I can help if you need me to."

"No, that's not necessary. I shouldn't be too long."

"Okay, if you're sure."

Noa took a seat in the living room and took in the small living space. She had never been to Kazuma's house before, but he kept it very neat and pristine. She could easily imagine him raising Kyo here.

Not long after Kazuma had begun cooking, Noa started to smell smoke wafting throughout the house.

Concerned, she quickly went to the entrance to the kitchen.

"Uh, Kazuma?"

"Mm-hm?"

"The food is…on fire."

Kazuma turned to look at the pot on the stove where a small fire had started inside of it. "Oh, so it is."

"Don't be so calm about it!"

Noa rushed over to the pot. Luckily, there was a lid on the counter nearby. She picked it up and slammed it onto the pot but not before one of the flames licked her hand and burned it.

"Ow!" Noa exclaimed as she backed away from the pot, holding her hand.

"Are you all right?" Kazuma asked as he quickly came over to her. "Here, let me see." He gently took her hand in his own and examined it. "I'll get a bandage for you."

He left the kitchen for a brief moment and returned with a small white roll. Noa held her hand out for him as he carefully wrapped the bandage around the injury.

"I'm so very sorry," Kazuma sighed. "I invite you over and you burn yourself because of me."

"Oh, it's okay," Noa smiled. "Kitchen fires happen to everyone."

"It should've been me who took care of it. I was just…distracted."

"I figured. Hasn't anyone ever told you that you shouldn't read and cook at the same time?"

Kazuma laughed lightly. "Kyo has. I guess I should've listened."

Noa noticed that he had finished bandaging up the burn, but he was still holding her hand. For some reason, the action made her heart skip a beat.

"Uh…why don't I make dinner instead?" she offered, cursing herself for stumbling over her words.

"No, I can't ask my guest to be the one to make dinner."

"Kazuma, no offense, but we'll both starve if we rely on you."

Kazuma laughed again. "I don't have a whole lot in my kitchen."

"That's okay. I can make a meal out of pretty much anything. Yuta was a pretty picky eater when he was a kid. I had to learn how to get creative with cooking in order to get him to eat balanced meals."

"You talk about your son so often. I'd love the chance to meet him someday."

Noa smiled a little. "I'd like you to meet him too. Maybe the three of us can have dinner sometime soon. And by that, I mean go out for dinner."

When Kazuma laughed again, Noa's heart skipped another beat. Lately, she had found that the more time she spent with Kazuma, the more nervous she felt around him.

What was this? Was she some kind of schoolgirl with a crush? It was ridiculous!

But if she was being honest, she hadn't felt this way…since she'd first met Kei.

* * *

"Hey, Kyo, you finished training?" Noa asked as she prepared to leave the dojo.

"Yeah."

"You wanna go get a snack with me? My treat."

It was the thousandth time she had asked that question, and he always said no, so she was pretty surprised when he answered, "Fine."

"Really?"

"Only because I know you'll never stop asking me."

Noa laughed. "Well, you're not wrong. Grab your stuff and let's go. I know a really good crepe stand not far from here."

Kyo changed into his street clothes and left the dojo with Noa.

They walked down the path until they came to an open park where there was indeed a man selling various kinds of crepes.

"Just get whichever one you want," Noa told him.

Kyo told the vendor which crepe he wanted and then Noa did the same before paying for both of them.

Once they both had their crepes, the two of them sat down on one of the park benches.

"Aren't you glad you finally accepted?" Noa teased. "There's not much better than free food."

"Yeah, yeah, I only agreed because you're so freaking persistent."

Noa laughed again. "It's not my fault you kept saying no. I knew I would break you eventually."

Kyo growled angrily. "You're so annoying, you know that?!"

"Ooh, big words to say to the person who just bought you food."

The boy embarrassedly slumped down into the seat.

"Look, I know you've kind of had mixed feelings about me because I spent so much time with Yuki as he was growing up. But I really want to get to know _you_ , not all of the incredibly biased things Yuki has told me."

"That rat's been bad-mouthing me, hasn't he?!"

"Oh, and you haven't been bad-mouthing him? Nice try."

"Why do you always gotta shoot down everything I say?! You're worse than Shigure!"

"I'm a mom. What did you expect?"

Kyo rolled his eyes.

"You've certainly got quite the temper, don't you?"

"So what? You gonna go complain to Master?"

"Hardly. After spending an entire month with Akito, this is nothing. But Kyo, listen. About Yuki, I know you've been angry at him since the two of you were kids, but have you ever considered his side of things?"

"What's that supposed to mean? He's Akito's favorite which means he just got a bunch of special treatment. I wasn't even invited to anything because Akito hates me."

"Did you ever think that maybe being Akito's favorite isn't all you think it is?"

"It can't be any worse than what I've gone through."

"How do you know? Have you ever asked him for his side of the story?"

Kyo looked away from her. "Well…no. What's the point anyway? It doesn't matter anymore."

"The fact that you both argue on a daily basis says that it does. I'm sure that you haven't had it easy. But Yuki hasn't either, and I think you're old enough now to stop moping about the things you can't change and focus on what you can."

"Ugh, I didn't ask for a therapy session! If I had known this was coming, I would've just said no again! Free food ain't worth it."

Noa smirked a little. "You're just mad because you know I'm right."

"Yeah, you wish!"

"Ah, the temper's come back. Well, you can act upset all you want, but from what Tohru's told me, I know you've got a good heart behind all that big talk."

Kyo blushed a little. "She…she talks about me?"

Noa raised her eyebrows at Kyo's reddening face, but she didn't mention it. "Yeah, all the time. She cares about you a great deal. One might even wonder if she has a crush on you."

At that remark, Noa was pretty sure steam was about to come out of the embarrassed boy's ears.

"You look out for her, okay?"

"Yeah…" Kyo answered. "I will."

* * *

Soon enough, Noa and Kazuma fell into a comfortable routine where Noa would come over and make dinner for the both of them after they trained together.

Yuta joined them a few times so he could meet Kazuma, and Kyo also ate with them when not staying at Shigure's.

Over time, Noa began to bond a lot more with Kyo. Once he had actually accepted her offer to take him out to eat, the two of them ended up going out more often. He still had the same fiery temper as ever, but she always enjoyed every second they spent together.

Kazuma eventually explained to her why exactly he took Kyo in as a child and what his parents had been like. Kyo's mother tried to show him love, but Kyo had always been able to see that it was fake and forced love. Eventually, the pressure of it all was too much and she walked in front of an oncoming train. His father constantly blamed him for his mother's death to the point where Kyo was so angry at the world and so depressed that Kazuma decided to take him away from all of the hatred and blame.

When Noa learned all this, she tried to show Kyo the true motherly affection he had always lacked. She realized that she was sort of becoming the 'pseudo-Sohma-family-mother'. It was more difficult with Kyo though because she always felt like he and Kazuma were hiding something from her.

On an ordinary summer day, Noa went to the main house as she always did.

The gates were locked, so she knocked on them and waited for a few minutes for one of the servants to get to them.

One of the doors opened, and out stepped the head maid, Shima.

"Oh, it is you, Miss Kaneko," she said rather icily. "Master Akito is not here at the moment, but I will be happy to show you where you can wait for him."

"Akito isn't here?" Noa asked. "But it's still pretty early. Where did he go?"

"It is none of my business to know that unless Master Akito wishes for me to know."

Noa just shook her head as she stepped inside the gate. She followed Shima further into the estate until they were almost to the back.

"Are you sure Akito wants me to wait for him all the way out here? We usually meet in the center house."

"Do not question Master Akito's orders."

It was no secret to Noa that Shima wasn't exactly fond of her. She had always been pretty cold towards her, but this was different. She seemed extra icy today.

The head maid led her to a very small building all the way in the back of the estate. The place looked almost abandoned as if no one had touched it in years.

Maybe Akito wanted to discuss something with her privately where no one would be able to hear them.

"Right this way," Shima said as she opened the door to the place.

Noa stepped inside…and the door slammed behind her with a sickening lock. She ran to the door and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Shima?!" she called in a panic.

"I won't let you continue to destroy Master Akito…" Shima said lowly through the door.

"…What? What are you talking about?"

"You…who don't even know what this family goes through…you attempt to come in here and change everything. The Sohmas have lived through the same tradition for hundreds of years. An outsider like you could never hope to understand."

"Shima, please, I'm only helping Akito!"

"You are doing no such thing. Akito is perfectly fine the way he is. He does not need someone like you changing him."

"He needs someone who cares for him!"

"There are a select group of Sohmas who care for him more than enough. He doesn't need you."

"Shima? Shima?! Shima!"

Noa banged on the door, but no one answered. No one could hear her all the way in the back of the estate.

She looked around the small place. The only windows had been boarded up, leaving the place in almost complete darkness. She tried to find a light but soon realized there weren't any.

Was this…the infamous 'Cat's Room' she had heard about? Was this the place Kyo was expected to be locked up in later in life? How could someone do something so horrible to another person who was part of their own family?

Noa tried to calm herself. Surely someone would eventually notice she was missing, right?

But…Yuta was off at college and she had no idea when he would get a break again. Akito would just be angry and betrayed that she stopped visiting. Odds were that she most likely wouldn't come looking for her. Yuki would stop by her house, but when he saw she wasn't there, he would just go home. Kazuma and Kyo would just assume she was busy when she never came to the dojo.

And if any one of them did find out she was actually missing, none of them would possibly think to look in the Cat's Room. Yuta didn't even know this place existed.

…How long was she going to be trapped here?

* * *

Days passed.

Noa lived in darkness and isolation inside the Cat's Room where no one could hear her cries for help.

The door only opened for a brief two seconds in order for someone to bring her a plate of food. Sometimes, the plate came three times, sometimes it was only once, and sometimes it didn't come at all.

The first time it had opened, Noa hadn't been fast enough to overpower the person who had opened it before it shut again. She had waited by the door for hours but it hadn't opened again that day.

The next time it opened, she was so hungry that she barely had the strength to make it to the door much less overpower the servant.

She knew Shima had always disliked her, but she had never known that she would go this far. What was so bad about changing Akito? Didn't Shima know that Akito had been full of despair when she had first met Noa? Could she not see that Akito had started to show a real smile instead of her malicious smiles? Did she not know that Akito needed a mother-figure in her life to comfort her and protect her and discipline her? Didn't she know that it was more harmful to just agree with everything Akito said without hesitation?

Try as she might, she could not understand Shima's reasoning.

She wondered if anyone had started looking for her. Maybe no one knew she hadn't been home in a long time. Maybe they all still thought she was just out for the moment.

The house was drafty at night and Noa had no blankets or even a bed to lie on. Shima truly kept her completely deprived of almost everything.

There was a bathroom inside the small place, but there was no hot water. She was forced to take frigid showers which only worsened her living conditions.

"Kei…" she said quietly as she lay on the floor. "Please…help me. Help someone find me. I'm…I'm scared. I wish you were here with me. I know that you would find me. Please let someone know I need help."

If this was what Kyo had to look forward to, she would do everything in her power to make sure he never had to suffer through this.

If she ever got out.


	12. Chapter 12

Noa lay on the floor of the small cramped 'house' in agony. She hadn't had anything to eat in at least a day, but she had lost track of time after about a week locked up. For all she knew, it had been longer than a day since her last meal.

She was sick and hungry and tired. And cold. So, so cold.

She had forced herself to hold on for Yuta and Akito and Yuki's sakes. She needed to be there for them.

But she could only hold on for so long. And it was getting harder and harder to keep holding on.

Voices sounded outside. She had long since given up hope of any of those voices hearing her. Some genius must've made the Cat's Room soundproof.

It wouldn't matter anyway. She no longer had the strength to call out for anyone.

Down below a mere fifty feet away, Kazuma entered through the main gates.

"Master Kazuma," Shima greeted with a polite bow.

"Hello," Kazuma replied. "Where is Akito?"

"In his room."

"Thank you."

Kazuma went to the largest house on the estate and approached the shoji to Akito's room before politely knocking on it.

"Akito?"

"What is it?" Akito snapped. She turned to look at Kazuma and gave a small smile. He noticed that it wasn't like the usual sadistic smiles Akito gave. This one was…tired. "Oh, Kazuma, what do you want?"

"I haven't seen Noa recently, and Yuta mentioned to me that it looked like she hadn't been home for a while. I was wondering if you'd seen her at all."

"No. That stupid woman stopped visiting me. It appears she was mistaken. She would not always be by my side after all."

"Akito, do you honestly believe that?"

Akito looked out of the window in the room and didn't answer. She really didn't know what to believe. After all the work Noa put into caring for her, it didn't seem like her to just up and stop coming to see her with no warning. But the other more dominating part of Akito's brain told her that she wasn't worth Noa's time and that her departure from her life was inevitable.

"I think something's wrong," Kazuma stated. "No one has heard from her in several days. Not me, not Yuki, not you, not even her son."

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?! If that woman chooses to abandon us, then she is no longer any of my concern."

"You really think she just up and left."

"Well, what else could she—"

Akito suddenly stopped speaking when she noticed something outside the window. A servant carried a tray of food…towards the Cat's Room.

Without a word to Kazuma, Akito rushed out of the house and outside to the servant. By the time she reached her, the servant had already made it up to the solitary room secluded from the rest of the estate.

"What are you doing?" Akito asked sharply.

The young female servant nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of her 'master's' voice. "Oh, M-Master Akito…"

"Why do you have food, and why are you bringing it here? This place is off-limits."

"Uh, of course, sir."

"No one is supposed to be in that room. No one in their right mind wants to be in that room."

"Yes, sir."

"So who is in there right now?"

"Uh…"

The young girl looked about ready to pass out from the anxiety of getting caught by the head of the family.

"Give me the key to the room," Akito ordered.

The girl quickly put down the tray of food and handed Akito the small silver key. It was the only one in existence so that only one person could be in control of the Cat.

Kazuma came up the steps behind Akito, his eyes going to the shaking maid.

…It couldn't be, could it?

Akito unlocked the door to the place and opened it.

Her eyes shot open in horror as she raced inside.

"…Noa?" she said quietly as she knelt down next to the woman.

She looked awful…

Her face was deeply flushed and it was clear she had lost a good amount of weight. Akito placed a hand to her head. She was burning up.

Noa's eyes squinted in the harsh new light. She looked up and smiled weakly. "Akito. Thank goodness."

Akito felt a rage boil up inside of her unlike anything she had felt before which was saying something because she had spent most of her life feeling angry.

"What is this meaning of this?!" she screeched to the servant.

"It wasn't me!" the maid pleaded. "It was…it was Shima! She ordered us to do this!"

"Why did you go along with it?!"

"She said it was what you wanted!"

"Why would I want this?!"

The maid finally burst into tears. "I was just following orders!"

Kazuma rushed inside and went to the other side of Noa. "Akito, we'll deal with this later. Go get Hatori. We need to get her some help."

Akito was never one to take orders very well, but for once, she did as she was told. She ran outside the horrid room and went to find her beloved cousin who always seemed to know what to do in any situation.

Akito slammed open the door to his office. "Hatori!"

Hatori turned expecting to see Akito as angry as she always was, but he was thoroughly surprised when he saw that she was crying.

"Akito, what's wrong?"

"It's…it's Noa! You have to help her!"

"What happened to Noa?"

"She was locked up in the Cat's Room! I don't know for how long, but she…she looks so sick…"

Hatori quickly ran out of his office and up the long set of stairs that led to the isolated place.

Sure enough, Akito's words were true. When he walked inside past a sobbing servant, he found Kazuma cradling Noa in his arms. She looked extremely pale and feverish. She must've been trapped up here for weeks. How was it possible that no one had noticed a person locked up mere feet away from them?

"She needs a hospital. We'll take my car. Hurry. Be careful with her."

Kazuma wondered how Hatori could possibly be so calm in a situation like this, but he supposed it was doctor's job to stay calm no matter the circumstances.

Kazuma carefully lifted Noa up into his arms and exited the Cat's Room.

Her head weakly fell against his chest, and he could feel her slightly trembling in his hold.

Just how long had she been forced to suffer like this?

"I'm so sorry, Noa," he said softly as he carried her to Hatori's awaiting car. "Just hold on a little bit longer."

For the first time in a long time, Noa felt beautiful warmth. She could feel the warm sun touch her skin along with the heat from Kazuma seeping through his yukata.

She was vaguely aware of someone putting her inside the backseat of a vehicle, but after that, her mind knew no more.

* * *

Noa slowly opened her eyes and found herself staring up at a white ceiling. She started to sit up when a deep familiar voice said firmly, "Careful. You have an IV."

The woman looked at her hand and found that she did indeed have an IV inserted into it.

"Don't move. You're still weak."

Hatori gently pressed on her shoulder to get her to lie back down.

"You're inside a Sohma-owned hospital. I've been monitoring you since you were admitted yesterday. Are you feeling any better?"

"I…I need to see Akito," Noa mustered out.

"I can't allow you to see anyone right now. You're still in pretty bad shape."

"Please."

Hatori sighed heavily. "All right. But only for a few minutes."

The young doctor left the room. Shortly afterwards, the door opened and Akito slowly stepped inside.

Noa smiled weakly. "Hey, there."

Akito looked at the floor and avoided eye contact with her.

"Come over here."

The young woman slowly approached the bedside and finally looked up. "Why aren't you mad?"

"Akito, this was not your fault."

"Yes, it was. When you stopped showing up, I just thought you had abandoned me. And the whole time…you were locked up inside that horrible room."

"There was no way you could've known I was trapped in there."

Tears started to form in Akito's eyes. "I should've! A family head is supposed to know everything that happens on the estate." She wiped away a tear that had fallen down her cheek. "Please, just…yell at me. Hit me! Do something! You have to be angry with me!"

"Akito, calm down. It's okay. I was partially to blame for what happened. In a family who relies so much on tradition, I think I was trying to change things too fast."

Akito nervously rubbed her arms.

"You know, I'm actually…rather proud of you."

"You're what?"

"I was pretty out of it, but I did see how you handled the situation when you discovered where I was. You used your words and didn't immediately resort to violence when you were angry. That's good."

"I…I wanted to though. I wanted so badly to hit that girl."

"But you didn't."

"I don't understand you."

Noa smiled again. "I still care about you. Nothing you could ever do will make me stop caring about you."

Hatori stepped back inside the room. "Akito, it's time to go. Noa needs rest."

Akito backed away from the bed to let Noa return to her sleep so her body could continue to heal from all of the trauma.

* * *

"Master Akito?" Shima called through the shoji.

"Enter," Akito answered.

Shima pulled back the door and entered the room. "I was told you wanted to see me."

Akito lay on the floor with her back to Shima, but she slowly stood up when the door closed. "You locked up Noa in the Cat's Room," she said lowly.

"I did it to protect you from her."

Akito furiously spun around. "Protect me?!"

"You were running things just fine around here before that stupid woman got involved in your affairs! I had to intervene for your sake."

"You almost killed her!"

"It was only a temporary arrangement to ensure her compliance."

"One more day in that hellhole and she might've died! She was sick and starving!"

"The old you never would've defended someone like that. I only did what you would've ordered me to do."

Akito gasped lightly. Shima's words pierced right through her heart because…they were true. The old Akito would've done something like that to another person. Maybe not to such an extent, but she would've done it.

That sickened her.

"Get out."

"Excuse me?" Shima exclaimed.

"I said get out! You are now forbidden from ever setting foot on Sohma property! I never want to see your face around here again!"

Shima glared at her. "You are making a mistake."

"The biggest mistake I ever made was listening to my mother and to you."

"Master Akito—"

"No, you know what? From now on, it's Miss Akito."

"I have lived and served at Sohma house for decades. Where will I go?"

"That is not my problem."

"Master Akito—"

Akito threw a vase at her which just narrowly missed her head. "Just get out! NOW!"

With one final glare, Shima exited the room.

* * *

Yuki held his head in his hands as he anxiously sat in a chair in the waiting room to hear news about Noa's condition.

Yuta sat in the chair next to him, leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed.

"I'm so sorry…" Yuki said quietly.

Yuta looked over at the boy in confusion. "For what?"

"I was supposed to look out for her. When you left for college, you told me that it was my job since you wouldn't be around as often. I worked so hard to do that…but I failed."

"Yuki," Yuta said gently. "That's not true. The one to blame is me."

Yuki looked up at him with wide eyes. "What?"

"I'm her son. I should've gotten in contact with her sooner or realized something was wrong when she didn't answer the house phone several days in a row."

"You couldn't have known about this. You didn't even know that place existed at the main estate. I did."

"And Hatori said that it's always been abandoned. Besides, you're never at the main estate anyway. Look, Yuki, don't blame yourself for this. Mom won't want you to, and you know that." He uncrossed his arms and leaned forward so he could look him in the eye. "You took great care of Mom. It's been three and a half years since I started attending university. And ever since then, my mother has had you looking out for her. I couldn't have asked for anyone better for her." He put his arm around the boy's shoulders. "You know, Yuki, I've kind of always thought of you as the little brother I always wanted. I hope that's not too weird."

Yuki couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew he had an older brother of his own, but things had been so rocky between them for their entire lives. Ayame hadn't wanted him at all years ago, and while he was somewhat trying to make amends now, he still came off much too strongly.

But for Yuta to say that he thought of him as a younger brother…? It took their friendship to a completely different level, and he might've cried if he wasn't so overjoyed.

* * *

When Noa once again opened her eyes, she looked to her right and found Kazuma sitting in a chair against the wall.

He quickly went to her side when he saw that she was awake. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Better," she answered softly as she sat up a little. "How is everyone? Is Yuta okay? What about Yuki and Akito?"

"Shh, calm down," Kazuma said gently as he took her hand being careful to avoid touching her IV. "Everyone's fine. They're all just worried about you."

"You…you came looking for me."

"I'm so sorry I didn't come sooner. I should've known something was up when you didn't come to the dojo. I just assumed you were busy and couldn't find the time."

"I waited so long in there…and no one came. But you…you were the one to look for me." Noa felt a tear slide down her cheek. " _You_ found me."

Kazuma gently wiped the tear from her face. "You're okay now."

"I was so scared. I…I thought I was going to die in there."

He wrapped his arms around her as she cried. How long had it been since she cried? How long had it been since she'd cried in front of someone?

Because she was a single mother and because of her heart for others, Noa spent so much time taking care of everyone around her. Kazuma wondered how long it had been since she had had someone to hold _her_ and comfort _her_ and tell _her_ things were going to be okay.

Suddenly, he never wanted to leave her side. He wanted to always be there to hold her when she cried and wipe away all of her tears. He never wanted her to be alone and scared ever again.

Kazuma resumed sitting on the chair and clasped her hand in both of his own. "Please forgive me for not realizing something was wrong."

"It's not your fault. Thank you for bringing me back into the light." She took a deep breath and then said quietly, "Kazuma, there's something I have to tell you."

"What is it?"

"I…I know about Kyo."

"What do you mean?"

"I know about the zodiac curse and that's he been cursed with the spirit of the cat."

Kazuma looked at her in surprise. "You know?"

"I've known ever since I first met Yuki. I promised to keep it a secret so that Hatori wouldn't erase my memories. But I told Akito all about it, and he allowed me to keep all of them. So I think it's only fair to the both of you that you know I'm aware of the whole thing."

Kazuma smiled fondly at her as he lightly ran his fingers over a strand of her hair. "You always continue to amaze me, Noa Kaneko."

Noa smiled back at him.

He stood up from the chair. "Yuta and Yuki are outside. Would you like to see them?"

Noa's eyes brightened. "Yes!"

"I'll go get them then."

He left the room and Noa sat up a little and wiped her eyes so the two boys wouldn't realize she'd been crying.

Not a moment later, the door slid open and Yuta and Yuki rushed inside.

"Noa!" Yuki exclaimed, resisting every urge to throw his arms around her.

"Mom! Are you okay?"

"Did Akito do this to you?"

"I should've known! I'm so sorry!"

"I should've looked for you!"

"Boys," Kazuma said quietly but firmly. "Don't overwhelm her."

Noa smiled a little at the two boys in front of her. "I'm fine. Everyone keeps blaming themselves. What happened was Shima's fault and Shima's alone."

"Shima?" Yuki said in surprise. "Our maid did this to you? Why would she do that?"

"She believed I was interfering too much with the Sohma family. She told me I was changing Akito and he was better off before he met me."

"That's ridiculous."

"I have to agree."

Yuta was confused that his mother referred to Akito as a male until he recalled that neither Kazuma nor Yuki knew her true gender. "When are you getting out of here?" he asked.

"Hatori said I can be discharged in a couple days once I get my nutrients back and start eating well again."

"I'm glad you're okay."

"You can't get rid of me that easily. I'd like to speak with Yuki alone."

"Yeah, sure."

Kazuma and Yuta left the room while Yuki sat in the chair next to her bed.

"Akito had no knowledge of this whatsoever," she told him. "He's been responsible for a lot of things, but not this. Don't blame him, okay?"

Yuki wanted to find every reason to blame Akito, but he couldn't do it. He didn't know if it was Noa's words or the curse itself that made him unable to be mad at Akito for what had happened to her.

"I need to tell you something. I told Akito I know about the zodiac curse."

Yuki's eyes widened in horror. "What? Why would you do that?"

"Because he needed to know that someone outside the Sohma family cared about him, curse and all. And you know what? He still allowed me to keep all my memories. Even if he hadn't, I wouldn't have let Hatori get close enough to remove them."

"Why would he let you keep them?"

"When he stayed with me, I think I managed to get through to him just a little bit. You should've seen his face when he found me inside the Cat's Room."

Yuki couldn't imagine Akito being horrified at anything other than someone refusing him.

Noa put her hand to the side of his face. "He's changing. He's not the same Akito you used to know. I'm not saying that I expect everything to be okay between you two now, but he's slowly beginning to see that what he did to you was wrong."

He found it hard to believe that someone was capable of changing the hard-headed Akito, but at the same time, he also found it hard to believe that someone could come in contact with Noa and _not_ become a better person afterwards.

Everything she did, even the hard things, she did out of love.

For the thousandth time, he wished he had been born into her family instead of his own.

* * *

One of the younger maids working in Sohma house, Rina, carefully exited the estate, making sure no one saw where she was going.

"Why did you need to meet with me?" she asked the older woman once they were a good enough distance away from the main house. "I could get in a lot of trouble if someone finds me out here with you."

Shima's face hardened. "You agree that Miss Kaneko needs to be dealt with, don't you?"

"If this is anything like what you did to the poor woman for the last month, I'm not interested. You took things way too far."

"Maybe I did. But it was for Master Akito's own good."

"That line is really blurring for you. And she wants to be called Miss Akito now."

"Just listen to what I have to say. I know a way to get Noa out of Master Akito's life forever without harming her."

"Well, what about her son?"

"You must deal with the root of the problem before taking care of the weeds."

"…I'm listening."

"This is what you need to do."


	13. Chapter 13

Once Noa was released from the hospital, life generally went back to normal.

Rina patiently waited for about a week before putting Shima's plan into action.

"Miss Akito," she said as she delivered the woman her dinner. "How has Miss Kaneko been?"

"She's fine now, no thanks to all of you. I should fire everyone who had a hand in that. You're lucky you still have a job here."

Rina clenched her jaw.

Akito looked at the tray of food. "I said I wanted takoyaki. What is this piece of trash?"

"It's takoyaki, ma'am."

"Well, it's not prepared the way I want it. Take it back and make it again."

Rina rolled her eyes, careful to not let Akito see. The girl has always been such a brat. She hated working for her, but it was a living and most of the time, she didn't have to have direct contact with her anyway.

A huge part of the reason Rina had agreed to Shima's plan was because she wanted Akito to suffer for everything she put not just her servants but her own family through.

And getting rid of Noa seemed like a good enough plan to her.

"…I can't believe she was here for so long and I had no idea. She must hate me…"

Rina knew for a fact that Noa wasn't angry at all, but she didn't feel like trying to make Akito feel better. "If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion—"

"What?" Akito snapped.

Rina tightened her fists. "You could always take advantage of Master Hatori's ability. He could erase her memories of the incident. If she doesn't remember what happened, she can't be mad at you for it. And I'm sure she would be happy to forget enduring something so traumatic."

Akito mulled over the proposal and didn't find anything seriously wrong with it. She may be angry at her servants, but at least it seemed they were trying to make amends. Maybe she could look Noa in the eye again if the woman didn't remember what had happened to her.

"Tell Hatori to do it."

"As you wish, ma'am."

Rina smirked as she left the room. The first step had been completed. But this next one was harder: convincing Hatori to actually complete the act.

She traveled to Hatori's office where he was sifting through some of his medical papers.

"Master Hatori," she greeted as she knocked on the door. "Miss Akito has made a request. She wants you to erase Noa's memories."

Hatori looked at Rina in confusion. "Are you sure you heard right?"

Rina adopted a feigned look of sympathy. "Yes, sir. She said that after everything that happened with the Cat's Room, she cannot live with herself and it is best that Noa forgets ever meeting her. With this being the case, she cannot be allowed to know about the curse."

"After everything Noa's done for her, I find it hard to believe that she wants her out of her life forever."

"That's what she told me. And you know you can't go against Miss Akito's orders."

"Perhaps I will speak with her myself."

Rina clenched her jaw again. She had told Shima this was going to happen. Hatori wasn't easily fooled and he would inevitably seek confirmation from Akito herself.

She followed the stoic doctor back to Akito's quarters. There was no way this was going to work. She hoped Shima had a backup plan.

"Akito," he called through the door. "Is it true that you want me to erase Noa's memories?"

"It's best for everyone," she answered quietly.

"I have to disagree. I know you're upset about what happened, but I don't believe Noa holds a grudge against you for it."

"She needs to forget. It'll be easier…"

"Akito—"

The shoji slammed open. "Why are you questioning me?!" she screeched. "Just do it!"

Hatori sighed deeply. "All right."

Rina let out a small chuckle of disbelief as Hatori left the Sohma estate.

Never once had she been so thankful that Akito's demanding nature made her cut off someone's speech. Any longer and Hatori might've figured out that he and Akito were talking about two very different things.

That little brat was finally going to get what she deserved.

Hatori trudged up the few steps to Noa's home. He had never wanted to refuse one of Akito's requests more than he did now. He couldn't understand why she wanted Noa's memories of her erased. Ever since Noa had taken Akito to her home, she had shown a pretty big change in character. Her violent outbursts had decreased and she didn't literally stress herself sick so much.

Akito may deny it, but she had gotten pretty attached to Noa.

Why would she want to give all of that up?

For that matter, Noa meant as much to Yuki as she did to Akito. He had already ruined the poor kid's life back when he was in elementary school. He wouldn't be surprised if Yuki never forgave him for this. Nor would he ever expect him to.

With a heavy heart, he knocked on the door.

Noa answered with a bright smile that made him feel even worse. "Hi, Hatori! Come on in."

Hatori stepped inside against his will. It was as if someone else had taken control of his feet.

"Can I get you anything?"

"No, thank you."

"One of these days, you're going to answer that question with a 'yes'."

Hatori's heart panged painfully in his chest. In a few seconds, she wasn't even going to recognize him much less remember how he always denied her question.

"Did you come up to check how I was doing?"

"Not exactly."

"Then what did you stop by for? Not that I don't enjoy the company."

Hatori inched forward to stand directly in front of her. His steps were heavy and he felt as if he was walking through cement.

He firmly took Noa's hand in his own and pulled her close, being careful not to let their torsos touch.

"Uh…Hatori?"

"I'm very sorry…" he said quietly as he put his other hand to her forehead. "But I cannot refuse an order from Akito."

Noa's heart skipped a beat. "What are you doing?" she asked. Her eyes widened with realization. "No. No, no, no, NO!"

 _SNAP_!

With a quick flash of light, the horrible deed was done.

Noa's eyes closed and she crumpled to the floor. Hatori was ashamed that after all that, he couldn't even lift her and place her onto the couch. But the last thing he needed was her waking up and finding a seahorse on her living room floor. Then all of this would've been for nothing.

He knelt down next to the unconscious woman. "Please forgive me…"

With another sigh, he left the small house to return to the Sohma estate, knowing he would not be able to sleep tonight.

About an hour later, Noa awoke on the hallway floor.

"Did I pass out?" she asked herself. "That's weird…"

She didn't feel light-headed and she'd been eating fine recently, so she must've just gotten a dizzy spell. Everyone had them. There wasn't anything wrong with her.

* * *

The next day, Noa's doorbell rang. When she answered the door, there stood a boy with silvery hair.

"Hi, can I help you?" she smiled.

"Oh, is this a bad time, Noa?"

"I'm sorry, have we met?"

Yuki's brow furrowed. "It's me. Yuki. You know, I come over about once a week, sometimes stay the night."

"I think you have me confused with someone else."

"No, I don't. I…I'm friends with your son, Yuta."

"Oh, that's nice. How did the two of you meet? You look younger than he is."

"I met you first! You took me in when I was a child after I had an asthma attack."

"I think I'd remember meeting someone like you. I'm really sorry, but I have work to do. I'll let Yuta know you stopped by."

Noa closed the door leaving Yuki standing on the porch in stunned and hurt silence.

Noa…didn't know who he was.

The only woman who'd treated him like her own child didn't recognize him. How was this possible?

There was only one answer to that question.

Feeling such a rage that completely overshadowed his fear of Akito, he stormed to the main house.

"Oh, Master Yuki," one of the younger maids smiled. She noticed his uncharacteristically enraged face. "Um, is something wrong?"

"Where's Akito?" he bit out.

The maid took a nervous step back at the fury he emanated. "Uh, in his room."

While most of the servants now knew Akito's true gender due to her no longer wishing to be called 'Master Akito', she had requested that no one in her immediate family know the truth because she wanted to tell them all together when the time was right.

Yuki stormed into Akito's room. "Akito!"

Akito's eyebrows rose in surprise at Yuki's entrance. She smirked a little. "My, my, what a surprise this is. My darling Yuki coming to see me of his own accord."

"What did you do to Noa?!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I just went to her house and she didn't have a clue who I was!"

Akito's smirk completely disappeared.

Yuki glared at her because his rage was the only thing keeping him from bursting into tears. "Did you order Hatori to erase her memories?"

Akito remained silent which only served to anger him more.

"Did you?!"

The young woman was taken aback at how angry her rat was. She had never seen him like this before, especially not towards her. She had only ever seen him cowering and afraid before her feet, terrified of what she might do to him next. That was always how she'd wanted it.

But if what he was saying was true…

Akito raced out of the room, leaving Yuki alone for the second time in an hour.

Ignoring all cries from the servants around her for her to stop, she ran outside of the gates and down the street to Noa's house.

The Sohma estate was a good distance away from there, but she didn't care. She just wanted to see Noa, and unfortunately, she had never learned how to drive a car.

By the time she made it, she felt like her lungs were about to explode and she was a breath away from passing out.

But there was no time to focus on her weakened physical state.

She quickly knocked on Noa's door.

The woman answered with another smile, but her face quickly filled with concern at the girl's appearance. "Are you okay?"

"Noa, do you know who I am?"

"Um, should I? Are you another one of Yuta's friends? Or maybe you're friends with that boy who was just here? Oh, what did he say his name was…? Uh, Yuki."

"You don't remember," Akito said softly, her heart crashing down to the ground. "No. No, no, I…I stayed here for a month." She pushed past Noa and went inside the house.

"Excuse me!" Noa exclaimed.

"I stayed up in the room on the second floor."

"No one's stayed in that room for nearly 15 years."

"I read books on that couch right there. And I helped you make dinner twice in that kitchen. And you talked to me about how I wasn't eating at that table!"

"None of that happened! Now get out of my home before I call the police."

Akito's eyes filled with tears. The Sohma family was so large and influential that the police never interfered with their matters. But what good was that for now? Even after the police had been dealt with should Noa actually call them, she still would not remember any of them.

At the sight of her watering eyes, Noa looked at her sadly. She never had been able to handle someone crying in front of her. After all, she was a mother and mothers quickly yearned to dry the tears of anyone who cried.

But what was she supposed to say? She had never met this girl before despite what she seemed to believe.

The strange thing was that this was the second time this had happened in one day. Had she missed something important?

"You have to go," she said quietly to the girl.

Akito slowly left the house as tears began to spill from her eyes.

The door closed, effectively cutting her out of Noa's life forever. She sank onto the steps as she began to sob.

Akito slowly began to make her way back home. A car pulled up beside her and Hatori anxiously got out.

"Akito, what were you thinking?!" he demanded. "How could you come all the way out here by yourself? What if something happened to you?"

Once he was close to her, Akito slapped him on the face as hard as she could, leaving behind four sets of scratches from her sharp nails.

Hatori was shocked. It had been a long time since Akito had physically attacked someone.

"How could you?" she growled. "You were supposed to just erase Noa's memories from her time in the Cat's Room! How could you erase all of them?!"

Hatori's eyes widened in horror. "You mean…you didn't want everything erased…?"

"Of course not! How could you betray me like this?!"

"It was…one of the maids. She told me you wanted Noa to forget everything."

"And you believed her?!"

"When I came to ask you, you said you wanted Noa's memories gone. I just didn't know you were talking about a specific one."

Akito started hitting his chest over and over again. "I hate you! I hate you! How could you do this to me?! I _hate_ you!"

Hatori tried to catch her flying fists before his one good eye stopped working as well.

If he had felt bad before, he now felt a thousand times worse.

Akito's worst fear had been realized.


	14. Chapter 14

"Um, Yuki?" Tohru said softly to her friend lying on his bed. "I have some dinner ready."

"No, thank you, Miss Honda," he answered without looking at her. "I'm not very hungry."

"But it's just that…you haven't eaten all day. And I don't want you to get sick because you're not eating."

"I appreciate the concern, but I'll be all right."

"Um…I'm going to miss Miss Noa too. But, um, I don't think she would want you to starve yourself over her."

Yuki sat up and cracked a pained smile. "Yeah, she'd probably be pretty mad at me."

"Just eat a little something, please?"

"All right. I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay!"

Tohru left the room and went back to the kitchen.

It had been a pretty depressing afternoon for everyone upon finding out that Noa didn't know who any of them were anymore. Yuki had been surprised to see that even Kyo was upset. Even if he kept trying to hide it from everyone, the stupid cat.

He had been more surprised when Akito had returned to the main house with Hatori. Hatori had a new set of scratches on his face, and Akito had been crying pretty hard. Perhaps he really hadn't planned for Noa to lose all her memories.

But it was hardest on Yuki. He had found a mother in that woman and now she had completely forgotten all about him. All those years ago when he had cried in her bed about having her memories erased had become a harsh reality he wished he could wake up from.

Back at the main house, Akito lay on her bed in a similar fashion. She had cried for the rest of the day and had only stopped about ten minutes ago.

Her head and eyes ached terrible, so when the shoji opened for a servant to bring in her dinner, she just about killed the person.

"Get out," she said quietly.

"Forgive my intrusion, Miss Akito."

Akito was too depressed to realize who the voice belonged to which was probably a good thing for both of them.

Rina looked at the head of the household for a brief moment. She had never seen her like this the entire time she had worked for her.

This was more than just having something she cared about taken from her. It was as if her very world had collapsed around her.

Rina felt a sharp stab of guilt in her gut.

She hadn't meant to completely destroy the girl. She just wanted to show her what it was like to feel the pain she inflicted on others.

But it may be that she and Shima had once again gone too far.

* * *

Noa couldn't stop thinking about the two people who had come to her house. They had been so sure they knew her. Not just knew her but were extremely close to her.

But how could they be close to her when she had no idea who they were? She was sure she had never seen them before they appeared on her doorstep.

The weird thing was that she was having strange recollections of things that had never happened.

Just yesterday, she had passed by the hall closet and had a faint memory of calming someone down who had gotten locked inside.

But Yuta had never once been locked inside the closet and even if he had, he wouldn't have freaked out so much that she had to help him breathe.

So where had that memory come from and why couldn't she picture that person's face?

The days went on and Noa was plagued with the terrible feeling that she had forgotten something important.

But try as she might, she had no idea what that thing was.

Yuta stepped inside the house and his sight was drawn to his mother pacing about in the living room. She looked on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"Mom, are you okay?"

She turned to look at him with tears pooling in her eyes. "I feel like there's something I have to remember. But I don't know what it is. I don't know what I've forgotten!"

"Have you seen Yuki and Akito recently?"

"I don't know those names! But I feel like I should…"

"What do you mean you don't know those names? You've cared for them as if you gave birth to them."

"I…I don't remember doing anything like that. I've only ever taken care of you."

"Mom…"

"I don't understand! Why can't I remember?"

Noa rushed out of the house much to Yuta's shock. He didn't know whether to follow her or allow her to be alone. In her current state, trying to convince her of something she physically couldn't remember would just make her more hysterical. Besides, he didn't even understand what had happened in the first place. Why couldn't she remember the two people she loved as if they were her own children? And why was it just them? Why could she remember everything _except_ them?

There was so much happening that he just did not understand.

Noa ran to the cemetery and collapsed in front of Kei's gravestone, tears trailing down her cheeks. "Help me, Kei," she said softly. "Help me remember. Show me what I forgot. What do I need to remember? What was so important?"

Noa wept quietly against the gravestone, silently begging for this awful feeling to go away.

She suddenly gasped and blinked.

Flashes of all the things she had forgotten ran through her mind at a dizzying speed. She remembered the moment she first met Yuki and the time she calmed him down when he was having a panic attack and when she first met Akito and the Cat's Room and Hatori coming over and everything in between. She remembered it all.

Noa lightly touched the gravestone. She didn't know how she remembered, but she didn't care. All she knew was that she wanted to see her children.

She left the cemetery and drove as fast as she could down to Sohma house. After parking her car, she threw open the gate to the main house and ran inside.

Akito was just passing by the gates and looked up at the sound of the doors opening. She was surprised beyond belief to find Noa standing there completely out of breath with tears on her face.

"…Noa?"

Noa ran towards her and hugged her tightly. Akito gasped and froze. Noa had never hugged her before since she knew she wouldn't respond to it well. She wasn't sure how to feel about this. Wasn't Noa not supposed to even know who she was?

Noa pulled back and put her hand to the side of Akito's face. "Did you think I could ever really forget you?"

…Was this possible?

"I told you I will _always_ find you."

"I…I don't understand," Akito said softly. "No one ever remembers after Hatori erases their memories."

"Noa?"

Noa and Akito looked over to find Hatori walking towards them.

"What are you doing here?"

"She…remembers," Akito answered. "How is that possible?"

Hatori gave a faint smile. "I didn't think it _was_ possible. My guess is that Noa's affection for both you and Yuki was stronger than my ability. It's the only feasible explanation."

"Why did you erase my memories in the first place?" Noa asked.

Akito looked at the ground. "It was my fault. I wanted him to erase your memories of the time in the Cat's Room. I was so…ashamed of everything you had gone through that I wanted you to forget it."

"You know I wasn't mad about that. I already told you what happened wasn't your fault."

"I think I knew that. I told myself that erasing your memories was to make you feel better, but it was really to make myself feel better."

Noa just hugged her tightly once again. "You let me worry about my own memories from now on. Because I don't want to lose a single one."

Akito slowly wrapped her arms around Noa and accepted the hug. Then for the first time in her life, she softly began to cry from happiness.

* * *

Noa rushed over to Shigure's house. When she approached, she saw Yuki sitting on the porch looking up at the sky.

His eyes widened when he saw her approaching, and he slowly stood up and walked towards her. "Noa?"

She smiled at him before rushing forward and enveloping him in her arms.

 _Poof_!

She looked down and a small white rat crawled out of Yuki's clothing. But she had a feeling he wasn't upset about the transformation this time.

Noa held her hands out and let Yuki in his little rat form climb into them before holding him up at eye level.

"I'm so sorry, Yuki," she said softly. "I'm sorry for the pain you experienced when I didn't recognize you. But I remember everything now."

"But…how?" Yuki asked.

"Hatori said because I cared for you and Akito so much, that love was stronger than his abilities and it allowed me to gain my memories back."

"You really remember everything?"

"Everything. It'll never happen again. I promise. I could never forget you."

Noa could see his rat's eyes glistening.

She held his tiny form close to her and hugged him as tight as it would allow.

"It's all okay now."

* * *

The day after Noa had recovered all of her memories, she and Akito sat down comfortably inside her room like usual.

In the more recent weeks, Akito had started to desire Noa's approval in what she did. It felt nice to have someone actually approve of her actions rather than just agree with everything she did because she was in charge.

But the time had come for her to know the whole truth. She didn't want Noa to constantly praise her when she kept so much from her. She was terrified about what would happen and how Noa would react, but it felt wrong to keep it all from her now.

"I've done…such terrible things," she said softly, tears filling her eyes.

Noa waited for her to go on. It was rare Akito was this transparent with her, but she hoped that now all of the missing gaps in the Sohma history would finally be filled.

"I injured Kisa, a little girl only eleven years old, to the point where she had to be hospitalized just because one of my zodiac members said he loved her. I forced Kureno to stay with me constantly so he never had a life of his own. I pushed Rin out the window when she told me she loved Hatsuharu."

Akito couldn't bring herself to look at Noa and see how she was taking the news. She had no idea if she was angry or shocked or upset. What would she do if Noa decided to up and leave her after she finished her story?

"I injured Hatori when he asked for permission to marry a woman. It's my fault he can't see out of that eye anymore. But instead, I blamed the woman for it and she ended up falling into depression and stopped eating. Then I manipulated Hatori into thinking the only way to help her was to erase her memories. I convinced Kyo that no one would want him, and after his mother killed herself, I made him believe that he the one was responsible for it. And Yuki…my precious Rat…I kept him locked up in a dark room and never let him have contact with anyone else because I believed that he was mine and mine alone. I convinced him that everyone hated him and the only reason he even had to live was me."

Akito took a shuddering breath and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Why did you do all those things?" Noa asked calmly without a trace of accusation in her tone.

"I…always felt like they were only here to serve me and love me because I was their god. And because I was their god and the curse wouldn't let them hate me or blame me, I could do whatever I wanted to them and my actions were right."

"Do you still feel that way?"

Akito took a deep breath. "No," she admitted for the first time. "I don't. I was wrong."

Akito didn't hate much more than being wrong. Admitting she was wrong was even worse. Yet when she finally confessed to Noa that everything she had done in the past had been for no one's benefit, she didn't feel anger or hatred. Instead, she felt as if a large weight that had been sitting upon her shoulders for twenty years finally disappeared.

"But without the zodiac, there's no reason for the god. I don't have any reason to live."

"That is not true. As long as you have people who genuinely care about you, you will always have a reason to live. And Yuta and I care about you so much. Please don't ever forget that. And even if you don't have the zodiac members with you, you are still the head of a very large family and they're counting on you to lead them."

"But…if I don't have my zodiac and those bonds, I'm going to get left behind. I'll be all alone."

"Akito, listen to me. Yes, there are times when you will feel lonely. It's just a part of life. So you need to find people who are willing to be there for you in those times and bring you out of that loneliness."

" _You're_ never lonely. Everyone loves you."

"I'm a single mother who lives by herself. Of course there are times I feel lonely. So when that happens, I'll call Yuta and talk to him for a little bit or sometimes I even come here."

"You…you come to see me…when you feel lonely?"

"Mm-hm. Because like I told you, you're important to me."

Akito once again wiped the tears from her cheeks.

She was scared. She didn't know what would happen if the curse broke and she suddenly lost everyone she shared a bond with. But at the same time, she knew it was just cruel of her to believe that she could hold onto them forever.

"Have you tried to make with amends with anyone?" Noa asked gently.

"No."

"A simple 'I'm sorry' can go a long way. There's a lot of baggage here, and those two words won't completely fix everything, but they're definitely a start."

A knock on the shoji pulled them out of their conversation.

"Enter," Akito answered.

Rina slowly stepped inside the room and sat on her knees before the two women. "Miss Akito, Miss Kaneko, I have something to confess."

"What is it?"

Rina paused for a moment as she realized that was the gentlest Akito had ever spoken to her. "It was my fault Miss Kaneko lost her memories. I…I met with Shima shortly after her dismissal, and she explained to me how I could convince Master Hatori to erase them. I'm very ashamed of my involvement in her plan. I never should've hurt either of you in that way. I will be dismissing myself from Sohma house and finding new work since I do not deserve to continue serving you."

Rina bowed so low that her forehead touched the floor. Akito looked over at Noa to see how she was taking this. Noa looked back at her with interest, curious as to how she would handle the situation.

"Rina, lift your head," Akito ordered calmly.

Rina straightened up but remained on her knees.

"I am not happy with you for what you have done but coming here and apologizing shows that you feel remorse for your actions. You will have to be punished, but I would like to keep you on as a servant if you wish to stay. If you still desire to leave, I will be sure to help you find a new place of employment."

Rina's eyes widened. "Um, I thank you, ma'am. If you'll have me, I will stay."

"Then it's settled. You will be assigned additional chores for the next month so expect to be worked to the bone. Our new head maid will tell you what you are expected to do."

"Thank you, but may I ask…why?"

Akito sighed deeply. "If I want people to forgive all the wrong I have done in the past, I must extend that same courtesy to others."

Rina bowed deeply again. "Thank you, Miss Akito. I will not forget this."

She stood up and left Akito's room feeling more stabs of guilt that hurt worse than anything Akito might've done to her in the past. She did not even recognize the young woman she had just spoken with. Just weeks ago, if Rina had made that kind of confession, Akito would've hit her and fired her without a second thought and Rina probably would've been grateful to not have to deal with her anymore. But now, not only did she keep her on, she even offered to help her find work if she quit.

This was no doubt due to Noa's influence. How could Shima think she was such a terrible woman? And how could she herself have helped her remove Noa from the young woman's life?

It had all been because Shima hated change and Rina hated Akito. Their hatred had almost completely destroyed an already fragile young woman.

Rina almost wished that Akito _had_ hit her with something. At least then, she wouldn't be feeling so awful inside.

She would be eternally grateful that Noa was a strong enough woman to gain all of her memories back or else she might have never been able to live with herself.

Noa smiled warmly. "I'm proud of you, Akito. I know that must've been pretty difficult."

Akito's stomach fluttered. Every time Noa said she was proud of her, a weird feeling filled her entire being.

It made her happy that even after everything she had confessed to doing, Noa could still say she was proud of her.

* * *

Two servants escorted Shima into Akito's room.

"Master Akito—"

"It's Miss Akito now. You would do well to remember that. After banning you from Sohma property, you still interfered with our matters, going so far as to manipulate Hatori to erase Noa's memories. You even involved Rina in your twisted plan."

"I told you I wanted to protect you from her."

Akito ignored her. "Since you clearly cannot be trusted, I am having you transferred to an estate in Hokkaido, far away from the Sohma family. You will be at the lowest possible station kept under constant supervision, and I have ensured that promotion for you is impossible."

Shima looked at her in shock. "You can't do this."

"I already have. Two men from the estate have come to escort you there."

On cue, the two men in question appeared at the door.

Shima paused for a moment. Finally, she looked at Akito hardly and stated, "Everything I've ever done was for your good."

Akito shook her head. "No. It was for your good. To make sure that we followed tradition. Noa is the only one who ever cared enough to show me how wrong I have been in the past. The only woman who truly loved me for who I am, not who everyone wants me to be. You never gave me any of that. Now get out."

One of the men lightly grabbed Shima's arm and began to pull her out of the room.

"And Shima?" Akito called just before she departed. "Noa remembers everything. Your plan failed."

The last sight Akito caught of Shima was her horrified eyes looking back at her.

Akito smirked to herself. Now she understood why Noa used her words the way she did. Somehow, it was so much more satisfying to deal with things in this manner than to randomly throw things at people.

* * *

"Hey, Mom!" Yuta called as he stepped through the door.

"Hey, sweetie," she greeted from the couch in the living room.

"Is something wrong?"

She looked up at him with an embarrassed smile. "I, um…I think I like Kazuma."

Yuta raised his eyebrows and smirked. "You mean… _like_ like?"

Noa nodded. "I think so."

"So why are you acting so weird?"

Noa's eyes drifted over to look at the picture of Kei.

Yuta nodded in understanding. "Oh." He took a seat on the table in front of the couch so he could face her. "Look, just because you have feelings for Kazuma doesn't mean you're replacing Dad. A lot of people get remarried. It doesn't mean they love their previous spouse any less. They just love the new person…differently."

Noa smiled a little. "When did you get to be so wise?"

Yuta laughed. "I learned it from my mom."

"I feel like I'm supposed to be the one telling you all this."

"I know how much you really loved Dad. Your heart is devoted to him and always will be. But it's been 11 years since he died. It's been long enough for you to open up your heart to someone else."

"I know it's far too early to tell, but if anything does end up happening…would you be okay with that?"

"Yeah. Kazuma's a really great guy, and you deserve someone like him."

"I don't even know what I'm supposed to do. I haven't been like this with someone in 25 years since I met your father."

"Well, you've been doing pretty good so far, so just keep doing whatever it is you're doing."

Noa put her hand to the side of her son's face. "Your father would be so proud of the man you've become. Whoever your future wife is will be a very lucky woman."

Yuta smiled back at his mother, touched at her words.

He wished that everyone could be as lucky as he was to have her.


	15. Chapter 15

"Kyo, come here," Kazuma said gently. "There's something I have to talk to you about."

"What is it?" Kyo asked as he sat across from him.

"How do you feel about Noa?"

Kyo's face reddened a touch and he looked away. "She's okay, I guess."

Kazuma smiled a little. "So you like her?"

"Yeah, she's fine. Why are you asking me about this anyway?"

"Well, because…I really like her."

Kyo's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yes. However…you are a very important part of my life. And I don't want anything to move forward without the two of you accepting one another."

"I'm pretty sure she accepts me already. I mean, she already knows about the curse."

"Yes, but I mean that I want her to… _fully_ accept you."

Kyo looked at him in horror when he understood Kazuma's meaning. "You mean you…you want her to see my true form?!"

"Kyo, calm down."

"No, how could you ask something like that?! How could you think I'd want her to see that?! She'll never accept me if she sees what I really am!"

"You haven't even given her a chance."

Kyo stood up and slammed his fist against the wall. "I don't need to! Forget it! I never want to see that woman again!"

He raced out of the room as Kazuma sighed. He had had a feeling that question wouldn't go over well with him, but he knew that he could never hope to form any kind of relationship with Noa if she didn't accept his son for every part of him.

Kyo ran into Shigure's house, knocking down the shoji for the millionth time.

"Kyo, I hope you know you're going to be fixing that," Shigure teased.

"SHUT UP!" Kyo yelled back.

"I see you're in one of your moods again."

"I said _shut up_!"

"No need to take it out on me. What's your problem?"

"None of your business!"

"Kyo?" a sweet voice called.

Kyo spun around to find Tohru in the entranceway to the kitchen with a bowl in her hand.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's…it's nothing," Kyo stammered.

Why did he always have such a hard time talking to her? Something about her always made his stomach twist into knots whenever she got near him. He usually never felt guilty about how he talked to people, but whenever he accidently snapped at her, he absolutely hated himself for it.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, you don't need to worry about me."

Tohru reluctantly returned to the kitchen.

Shigure leaned in close behind him. "Someone's in love," he sang.

Kyo jumped a foot in the air. "Will you butt out?!"

While Shigure kept singing 'Kyo's in love', Kyo went up to the roof.

How could Kazuma, the man he had come to call his own father, ask such a horrible request of him? He knew how much he detested his true form and for good reason. His true form was disgusting and repulsive and seemed to be life's way of laughing in his face. As if turning into a cat whenever he was tired or hugged by a girl wasn't bad enough, he also had the unfortunate pleasure of turning into a hideous monster.

Why would Kazuma ever ask him to reveal that darkest part of himself to another person? He had already done so with Tohru and even if things ended up working out, he still wasn't happy about having that whole incident sprung upon him with no warning. Why would he want to put him through something like that again?

"Kyo, are you up here?" Tohru called.

Kyo sighed heavily. "What gave it away?"

"You looked upset, so I knew you'd be on the roof. Um, may I ask what happened to make you so mad?"

Kyo knew there was no point in lying. Tohru had a way of always knowing when he was being less than truthful. Besides, maybe she would know how to make him feel less horrible about what had gone on that afternoon.

"It's, uh…it's Master."

"Oh, Mr. Kazuma?" Tohru asked with sparkles in her eyes. "How's he doing?"

"He's fine. He actually told me…that he likes Noa."

"What?!" she exclaimed with a smile as she clasped her hands together. "That's so cute! And they would be so perfect together! Has he told her yet?"

"Well, no, not exactly. He said that he didn't want anything to happen with her unless she accepted me for who I am."

"She already does, doesn't she? I mean, she knows about the curse."

"No, I mean…he wanted to show her my true form."

"Oh…"

"How could he ask me that…? That's the one part of myself that I absolutely hate. I want to forget that it's who I am, and he wants me to show it to someone else?"

"Um…I think it's just because Mr. Kazuma cares so much about you that it matters to him that someone he likes also likes you. He knows how much you hate your true form, so he would never ask you something like this if it wasn't really important to him."

"But…how could someone ever accept that ugly and monstrous part of me?"

"…I did."

Kyo looked over at the girl who stared back at him with earnest eyes. He wondered if it was possible for her to get really angry about something.

"But what if…Noa sees me like that…and hates me? Master has never shown any interest in another woman before, at least not that I know of. What if he ends up losing the first woman he's ever liked…because of me?"

"Miss Noa doesn't seem like the kind of person who abandons someone so easily. Do you really think she'll just give up on you like that?"

"I don't know. What if she sees me and only pretends to accept me just so she can stay with Master? She'll never look at me the same way again. I…don't know if I could handle that."

"Miss Noa has seen a lot ever since she started becoming involved with your family. She's seen Yuki transform into a rat, she's seen Akito at his angriest and still managed to get him to like her, she's known that Akito is considered a god amongst the family. Miss Noa…chooses to accept people for who they truly are. And, um, I think she'll do the same with you."

Kyo sighed again.

Tohru placed her hand on his shoulder. "Don't you _want_ to have Miss Noa accept you?"

He blushed under her touch. "…Yes."

Tohru smiled warmly. "Then I think…it'll be okay."

She returned downstairs, leaving Kyo alone with her words.

"All right, Noa…" he said softly. "You better prepare yourself."

After spending a few more minutes on the roof in an attempt to face the fears surrounding him, Kyo returned to Kazuma's home.

"I'll do it," he said quietly.

Kazuma came over to Kyo and gently hugged him.

* * *

Noa made her way to Kazuma's house and found him outside sitting on his porch.

"Hi, Noa," he smiled.

"Hi," she smiled back, feeling butterflies in her stomach.

Ever since her conversation with Yuta, she suddenly became even more nervous whenever she was around Kazuma. She wondered if he liked her the same way she liked him.

"Noa…there's something important I need to tell you," he said as he stood up from the porch.

Noa's heart skipped a beat. "What is it?"

He turned back to the house. "Kyo?"

The orange-haired boy stepped outside to join them. He looked like he was about to throw up, but for what reason, she had no idea.

"Yuki neglected to tell you something about Kyo," Kazuma told her.

She rarely ever saw the man so serious and it was starting to really throw her off.

"The thing about the Cat is that…he has two forms."

Noa stayed silent, wondering where all this was going and why Yuki hadn't told her about this.

"The reason why has been distorted over the years, but every person cursed by the Cat has it. You need to see it."

Avoiding her eyes, Kyo yanked off the black-and-white bracelet he wore.

Noa winced when he began screaming in agony and fell to the ground. Smoke poured from his body as it started to change.

His eyes enlarged and became a deep purple color while his pupils narrowed into slits. His skin took on a brown and leathery appearance. All of his limbs stretched out into unnatural proportions. His teeth sharpened into a predator's.

His screams joined together with inhuman screeches and growls.

Noa involuntarily gagged as a putrid smell hit her nose and she placed her hand to it in a useless attempt to mask the awful scent, feeling like she was going to vomit.

The smoke cleared and Noa finally saw Kyo's true form clearly.

She took a couple of ragged breaths as her mind tried to process the…thing that was in front of her.

She had seen and heard a lot of things since becoming involved with the Sohma family, but this…this…

There were no words.

Seeing her expression, Kyo growled in her face before taking off through the forest.

"Kyo!" Noa called.

Without a second thought, she took off after him.

It took several minutes for her to catch up with him since he ran at a ridiculously fast pace in this form.

"Kyo!" she called again breathlessly.

He turned and growled at her again with a viciousness that truly frightened her.

 _I hate this_! Kyo thought angrily when he saw the fear in her eyes. _All I do is wreck everything! Master cares so much for her and because of me, she'll never talk to him again! Why…? Why does it have to be like this…?_

"Kyo," Noa said gently, falling to her knees. "I can't even…imagine what it must be like to change into this form. To always worry about your bracelet falling off. To wonder what will happen if someone sees you like this. To worry if people will look at you differently if they see it. To have all those people…constantly judging you for something you have no control over."

Kyo looked away from her in shame as he growled lowly.

"No one truly knows what it's like for you to shoulder this burden either. You must feel so alone."

He did. He did feel alone with this form always on his back. No one knew that.

Except her.

Noa could feel her eyes filling with tears, and she wasn't sure why. "But…if this is a part of you, then it's a part of you! And I _promise_ …to accept _every_ part of you. If you will accept every part of me."

Kyo couldn't believe what he was hearing. She saw him in this hideous, disgusting form…and she asked _him_ to accept _her_?

He slowly ambled over to her with his disproportionate limbs. He could see tears on her face which struck straight into his core. Why was _she_ crying?

Noa slowly reached her hand out towards him. He growled a little which caused her to flinch, but he didn't move.

She lightly pressed his hand to the side of his head. It felt just as leathery as it looked, but it wasn't repulsive for her to touch him.

Kyo found himself leaning into her touch.

Noa smiled a little.

Smoke surrounded his body once again, and in mere seconds, he had changed back to his human form. She was surprised to find him crying as well.

Kyo's heart hurt. It was one thing for Tohru to accept him as he was. He had already admitted to himself by this point that he was in love with her. She had accepted him as a friend and as a man.

But with Noa…it felt different. It felt like…she made up for everything his own mother did wrong. It felt like…he had a mother again. A mother who accepted him fully, disgusting form and all. Instead of accepting him as a man, she accepted him as a son.

Noa gently reached out and wiped his tears away. Then she stood up and extended her hand. "Let's go home."

It was probably the most beautiful three words he had ever heard from a woman.

Kazuma watched his adoptive son and the woman he had become so close to return hand in hand.

Both of them were crying, but they didn't look sad.

It warmed his heart to see how well Noa interacted with Kyo even after everything that had just happened.

For so long, he had given Kyo everything he could, but there were some things that were just impossible for him to give. Motherly affection was one of them. He had always wanted to find someone Kyo could look up to who would shower him with love. He hoped Noa could finally be that someone.

Noa looked up and smiled a little when she met Kazuma's eyes.

She lightly rubbed Kyo's hair before he took off into the house.

"I'm sorry to give you such a shock," Kazuma said quietly.

"It's all right."

"There's…a reason I wanted to show you Kyo's form. I needed to see how you would react."

"Why?"

"Because…Kyo is a very important part of my life, and I love him more than if he were my own son."

"Well, I already knew that."

"I needed to know that you fully accepted him for who he is. Because…you are very important to me as well."

Noa felt her heartbeat pick up. "Um…I feel the same way about you."

Kazuma took her hand in his own which only made her heart beat faster. "I care very much for you. I know you have a son of your own, and I want you to know that I care for him too. And I know that you have been married before. I don't presume to make light of that marriage or make you feel like you're replacing your late husband. But if you will allow me, I want to do what I can to protect you and care for you."

Noa's head spun at his sentimental words and she felt more tears coming to her eyes. "Kazuma, you don't know how much it means to me to hear you say these things. I like you very much. I also care deeply for Kyo, and I promise that I always will regardless of what happens between us. I'll be honest, getting into a relationship won't be easy for me at first because of my previous marriage…but I'm willing to try."

Kazuma smiled warmly. "If you want to go slow, we can go slow. I don't mind at all. But I hope you won't be angry if I do this."

He leaned towards her and placed a soft kiss on her cheek.

Noa felt her face get hot. "Um…no. That doesn't make me angry at all."

The two of them smiled at one another and headed inside to make some dinner.

* * *

"Hey, Noa," Kyo said to her just as she was about to leave Kazuma's house.

She noticed he looked really nervous, but she had no idea what could possibly be more stressful than showing her his true form.

Kyo couldn't believe he was about to ask this, but after what had just happened, he knew that he didn't want to ask anyone else.

"I…I need to go see my father," he finally said.

Oh.

That could be more stressful.

"I need to do it alone, but I was wondering if you could…you know, maybe…just stand outside?"

Noa smiled warmly. "Of course."

So the next day, they both found themselves outside of Kyo's childhood home. Noa placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You don't have to do this."

"Yes, I do."

"Okay. I'll just be right out here for you."

"Thanks."

Kyo slowly walked inside, and Noa waited anxiously by the gate for him to come out. Shortly after he had gone in, she could hear loud yelling from inside that wasn't Kyo's voice. She had half a mind to march in there and pull Kyo away from his father, but Kyo had been adamant that he was to face this alone. Noa understood his reasoning and wanted to respect it, but her motherly instincts were about to take over.

Finally, Kyo exited the house and came out of the gate.

Noa looked at him in concern. "Are you all right?"

Kyo promptly began vomiting against the brick wall.

"Oh, honey!"

Noa rushed over to him and gently rubbed comforting circles on his back as he continued to heave.

Once he had emptied the contents of his stomach, Kyo weakly stood back up.

Noa took a napkin out of her purse and handed it to him. "You okay?"

Kyo nodded as he wiped his mouth with the napkin.

"I'm so proud of you. That took guts."

"My guts are lying on the sidewalk."

Noa laughed lightly. "Okay, I walked right into that one."

Kyo awkwardly rubbed his arm. "Thanks though. You know, for being here."

"That's what moms are for."

Kyo's heart panged in his chest. She was here, supporting him, looking out for him, smiling at him, just like a mother should. For the tiniest moment, he almost… _almost_ wished he could hug her.


	16. Chapter 16

"Oh, hello, Miss Kaneko," Rina politely greeted.

"Hi, Rina. Is Akito in her room?"

"Yes, ma'am. But I think there's something wrong. She's been awfully quiet today."

"Oh? Thank you for letting me know."

Noa went up to Akito's room and knocked on the shoji before pulling it back. Akito's back was to her as she sat on the other side of the room where the door opened to reveal their garden.

She quietly came over to sit next to her.

Akito didn't say anything for several minutes, so they sat in comfortable silence.

"I want to release everyone from the curse," Akito finally stated.

Of all the things Akito could've said in this moment, Noa had not been prepared for that statement.

"You can do that? Why now all of a sudden?"

"The curse has been weakening for years. It's why Hatori's zodiac form is a seahorse not an actual dragon. And right now…Kureno, Momiji, and Hiro have all been released from it already."

"They have? How?"

"I don't know for sure. I didn't think it was even possible for it to be broken in the first place. Or maybe that was just me trying to hold on to something I shouldn't have. But I think…the time has come for me to say good-bye."

"Does it hurt when it happens?"

"Not really. I just feel…an overwhelming sense of…loneliness."

Noa nodded a little. Then she moved closer to the young woman. "I am going to be right here next to you the whole time."

Akito looked over at her, and Noa realized just how much the usually domineering woman seemed to resemble a scared child. "Promise?"

"I promise. I won't leave your side for a second."

"Noa…I don't think…I could do this without you."

Noa smiled a little. "Just go ahead whenever you're ready."

Akito took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

 _Good-bye…my precious zodiac…_

* * *

Kyo stopped walking along the path with Tohru mid-step.

"Kyo?" she asked when she realized he had ceased walking. She quickly ran up to him when she saw he had tears in his eyes. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Without another word, Kyo took Tohru into his arms and hugged her tightly.

"Wait, Kyo, don't! You'll—"

She stopped when there was no _poof_! or transformation.

"…Kyo?"

Kyo said nothing. He only clung onto her tighter.

Tohru began crying as well as she wrapped her arms around him.

* * *

"Hey, boss!" Mine smiled as she came into the room. "I just finished making some tea! Want some?"

Ayame remained silent as he got off the couch and came over to her.

"Boss…?"

The white-haired man wrapped his arms around Mine and kissed her forehead.

"B-Boss?" Mine stuttered.

"I've wanted to tell you for so long, my darling Mine. I love you. I've always been in love with you."

Mine gasped lightly. She ran her hands through his long hair and looked up at him. "I…as well. My Ayame."

Ayame gently pressed his lips to hers.

* * *

A crash sounded throughout the house.

"Ritsu?!" Okami called. "What happened?! Are you all right?!"

A broken flowerpot lay at Ritsu's feet.

Tears streamed down his eyes of their own accord. He wasn't even sure why he was crying. This feeling was so…bittersweet. He had wanted to be free of this curse for so long, but now that he was, he also felt kind of…lonely.

Okami came up to him with a sad smile once she understood what had happened.

Then for the very first time, she got to envelop her son into a tight hug.

"It's all right," she said softly.

Ritsu clung onto her, using her touch to fight away the loneliness.

* * *

Two tears made their way down Akito's cheeks.

Noa moved closer to her and took her hand. Akito immediately started squeezing it tightly. Noa gently rubbed her thumb over her skin.

She wished the whole process wasn't so difficult for Akito, but it had to be done.

* * *

While playing with Hiro and his new baby sister whom he could now hold freely, Kisa started to weep.

"Kisa, what is it?!" Hiro exclaimed. "Are you hurt?!"

Kisa wiped her eyes. "No. It's just…good-byes can be so hard."

Immediately understanding what was going on, Hiro put his arm around the girl he loved dearly. He knew the feeling all too well of being released from the zodiac curse, and it was a confusing one indeed.

"It's okay to feel upset," he said softly. "But I'm here." He held up his little sister. "Hinata is too."

Kisa hugged the both of them tightly and wept onto Hiro's shoulder.

* * *

While walking down the sidewalk, Kagura suddenly felt tears rolling down her cheeks.

She gave a sad smile at the contradictory feeling inside her.

"It's finally time, is it?" she said to herself. "How…bittersweet."

* * *

Rin began to cry without fully understanding the reason why. It took a moment for her to grasp the strange mixed feeling in her heart, but once she did, she didn't fully know how to react. She looked at Hatsuharu across from her with wide eyes.

"The curse…" she said softly. "It's…gone?"

Hatsuharu said nothing.

Rin placed her hand to the side of his face. "Haru…we're free."

Hatsuharu opened his eyes and smiled at her. He lifted his hand up and wiped away her tears.

Rin threw her arms around his neck and wept tears of joy and bitterness. She couldn't understand why she felt somewhat sad about losing the bond after all the trouble it had caused her. But then, this bond was a strong one, and no matter how much she detested it, there was something upsetting about losing a bond such as that one.

It didn't matter anymore. She and her beloved Haru were finally free.

* * *

Hatori headed back to his office at the main estate.

Suddenly, he froze in his tracks and put his hand to his eyes as tears made their way down his cheeks.

It felt strange for him to cry since he was never really one to show much emotion.

"Such a strange feeling…" he mused as he leaned against the wall.

* * *

Akito let out a sob.

Saying good-bye to so many people at once…it hurt her very soul even if people had previously joked that she didn't have one when they thought she couldn't hear.

It hurt so much.

Noa let go of her hand and put one arm around the girl's shoulder. She held her tightly in her protective embrace as she continued to experience the pain of leaving.

* * *

Shigure walked down the path back to his home when he stopped. He put his hand to his chest as his heart ached.

He gave a small smirk.

"So, my dear Akito," he said to himself. "It appears you've finally learned to let go."

He continued walking down the path.

* * *

Yuki nervously sat on a bench as he waited for Machi to arrive.

Today was the day he planned to tell her about the curse. He really cared about her, maybe even loved her, but he couldn't hope to make her his if she didn't know the truth.

"President!" Machi called as she ran over. "I'm sorry I took so long! I hope I didn't keep you waiting!"

"No," Yuki smiled kindly. "I'm sorry to call you here so suddenly."

"It's fine. Did you have something to tell me?"

Yuki started to respond, but the next thing he knew, tears were pouring out of his eyes beyond his control.

"President?!" Machi exclaimed. "What's wrong?! Was it something I said?! Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"No," Yuki told her softly as he wiped his eyes. "I'm sorry, it's just that…I've said good-bye to someone I was very close to. I didn't even really like this person, and yet I'm crying like this. It's so strange."

"It's not strange," Machi said with a small smile. "Whether you liked this person or not, you were still close with them, right? Sometimes, it can be really hard to say good-bye like that. It's like…when someone you never really got along with passes away, you still feel the need to mourn for them."

Yuki smiled. This girl seemed to understand him more than anyone else, even when she had no idea what the situation really was.

He stepped forward and hugged the girl much to her surprise.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this," he said quietly.

Machi blushed deeply.

Yuki pulled away and then took her chin in his fingers before giving her a gentle kiss.

* * *

Akito opened her eyes, tears streaming from them.

 _My Cat, my Snake, my Monkey, my Tiger, my Boar, my Horse, my Cow, my Dragon, my Dog, and you…my precious, precious Rat…good-bye._

Akito freely began to sob.

Noa quickly wrapped her arms around the girl and pulled her close. She gently started rubbing the back of her head.

"It's okay," she said softly. "I'm here. I'm right here. You did such a good job."

"Is it okay?" Akito choked out through the sobs. "Is it okay…to just be me now?"

"Of course it is."

Akito clung onto Noa tightly as she cried her heart out. The pain in her chest at losing the bonds she had built her entire life around was almost enough to overwhelm her.

Almost.

But Noa's presence was just enough to peek through the dark cloud of loneliness and isolation that hung over her which she had always done everything she could to avoid.

She wasn't sure when she stopped crying because of the painful lonely feeling.

But as she sobbed in Noa's arms, she continued to cry because she finally had a mother to hold her when it felt like her world had come crashing down on her and be there to tell everything was going to be okay.

She thought back to the conversation she had had yesterday…

* * *

 _"It's a pleasure to see you again, Mister Akito!" Tohru exclaimed as she bowed._

 _Akito smiled a little at the girl. "You can call me 'Miss'. I know Kureno told you my secret."_

 _Tohru's eyes widened. "I'm so sorry, I know you didn't want anyone to find out! But don't worry, I haven't told anyone that I know! I promise!"_

 _It appeared she had not changed much since their last meeting. Akito internally winced as she recalled that day. To Tohru, she had been kind on the outside but in truth, she had acted horribly, repeatedly calling her ugly and undesirable behind her back even though she knew it was the exact opposite of the truth._

 _And the things she had said to her precious Rat…_

 _"Although, I would prefer we drop formalities entirely," she continued._

 _"If that's what you want, um, Akito. Um…may I ask why you wanted to see me?"_

 _"I…I thought it may be better to meet under the new circumstances when you know who I really am. I was…not exactly nice to you last time."_

 _"Oh, no, you were very polite! It was me who wasn't nice! I shouldn't have pushed you like I did!"_

 _"I deserved it. And if Noa had seen the way I spoke to Yuki, she would've done much worse."_

 _Tohru quietly giggled, only imagining the kinds of things Noa would've said to the young woman for scaring him so much._

 _"I was…afraid," Akito quietly admitted._

 _"Afraid? Afraid of what?"_

 _"You were so beautiful. Inside and out. And I was afraid that…you were going to take everyone away from me."_

 _Tohru looked at the young woman sadly. It was hard to believe this fragile girl had ruled everyone with twisted malice just months before. "Miss Akito…I mean, Akito…if I'm beautiful, then so are you."_

 _Akito looked at her in surprise._

 _"I came into the Sohma family's lives and started to unintentionally break apart your world. It hurt you, and I'm very sorry. I think both of us were trying so hard to hold onto the past. But the thing about the past is that it will always stay in the past and no matter how hard we try, it won't be able to become the future."_

 _Akito smiled a little. "Are you talking about Kyo?"_

 _Tohru's face turned several shades of scarlet. "What?! Um, no! I mean, kind of? I mean…!"_

 _"I know he has very strong feelings for you. May I ask…what it was you were trying to hold on to?"_

 _Tohru gave her a sad smile. "I lost my mother a little over a year ago. I wanted her to always be the first person in my heart, but…time has passed, and I've come to see that…Kyo is slowly taking her place. I don't love her any less, but…I think it's time for me to let go and move on from the past."_

 _With those words, Akito knew what she had to do._

* * *

Once Akito's crying ceased, she finally pulled away from Noa.

"I'm going to make a quick phone call, okay?" Noa said. "I'll be right back."

"Okay," Akito answered quietly.

Noa got up and went over to the phone in the main house. Then she dialed Yuta's number.

"Hello?" his voice answered.

"Hey, Yuta, I need a favor."

"Hey, Mom, name it."

"Akito's had a really tough time today, and I don't want to leave her alone right now, but there's somewhere I really need to go. Could you come spend some time with her for a little while?"

"Yeah, no problem. I'll be there in twenty."

"Thanks, hon!"

True to his word, Yuta arrived at the main estate in the specified amount of time.

He knocked on the shoji and pulled it back. "Hey, Akito," he smiled kindly.

She looked up at him before quickly looking away. "Why did you bring him here?" she asked Noa angrily.

She most definitely did _not_ want Yuta to see her like this!

"If there's anyone who can cheer you up, it's him. I have to be somewhere, but he's going to stay with you for now, okay?"

Yuta came over and sat down near her. "I brought a new book for you. We can take a look at it together."

Noa rubbed her hair affectionately. "I'll be back tomorrow, I promise."

She got up and left the room so the two of them could be alone.

For now, she needed to go somewhere very important.

She headed over to Shigure's house. Once she approached, she saw Yuki just returning from wherever it was he had been.

"Yuki!" she called.

Yuki turned at the sound of his name. "Oh, Noa, what brings you here?"

Noa slowly walked up to him. Then she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"Noa…?"

"I know the curse broke. I wanted to finally be able to hug you."

Yuki's heart leapt in his chest. He put his arms around the woman who had become a mother to him.

How many times had he longed for this affectionate touch, to feel loved, to feel assured that she cared, to feel safe in her arms?

And now…after all these years, he finally got to experience it.

A mother's hug.


	17. Chapter 17

Back at the main house, Yuta was doing his best to cheer Akito up, but nothing was working. It didn't help that he had no idea why she was upset in the first place. And with so many things kept from him regarding the Sohma family and Akito herself, what was he supposed to say?

"Akito, is there anything I can do to help you feel better? Or maybe you can tell me why you've had such a tough day?"

Akito avoided his eyes as she had done for the past hour. She couldn't believe Noa made her son come over now of all times. If there was ever a time she didn't want Yuta to see her, it was after she'd just cried her eyes out and looked like a complete and utter mess.

"It's just…hard to say good-bye," she said softly.

"Who did you say good-bye to?"

"People I've been very close to since birth. It was time to let them go."

Yuta recalled when she had mentioned that several members of her family would spend time with her forever. Did it have to do with that?

"That was a tough decision, I'm sure. But they can still come back if they want, right?"

"It's just…not the same. You wouldn't understand."

"I guess not."

He was getting nowhere like this. If she wanted to be vague about everything, he wouldn't force it out of her, but it also meant he didn't know what to say or do.

Finally, he stood up and went inside her closet.

"What are you doing?" Akito asked.

Yuta picked out a nice shirt with a pair of black pants. "Here, put these on."

"Why?"

"Because I think it will do you good to just get out of the house for a little while, so I'm going to take you to dinner."

"I don't feel like going out."

"Well, this is the only thing I can think of to help. Come on, what's the harm? You can't possibly turn down free food!"

"I just did."

"You are the most stubborn girl I have ever met."

"You're the one who won't take no for an answer. You're just like your mother."

"Only because I know you'll feel better once you get dressed and get something to eat. Don't you trust me?"

Akito didn't want to admit that she did. She yanked the shirt and pants out of his hands. "You're intolerable."

Yuta smiled. "But oh-so-loveable."

"In your dreams."

The young man left the room to leave Akito to change.

She finally stepped out in her new outfit, and he felt his breath catch for a moment.

Man, she was so freaking beautiful. It hurt him to know that she had been crying for so long which he only knew by her red eyes. All he wanted to do was hug her and assure her that he could make it so tears would never fall from her beautiful eyes ever again.

Yuta shook his head. Why was he thinking like this?

Ever since that day at the beach, Akito had always managed to throw him for a loop, and he found himself thinking very unusual thoughts about her beauty and how much he wanted to protect her.

But that was ridiculous. He only saw her as a friend.

The two of them went out to a nice restaurant within walking distance of the Sohma house.

They were seated quickly and ordered their desired meals when their waitress came by.

"Look…I don't know what's going on or why you're so upset today, but I truly am sorry you feel like this," Yuta said gently. "I wish there was something more I could do."

Akito wondered if Yuta would still want to spend time with her if he knew the full story. Noa had, so he probably would…but what if he didn't?

All the same…it _was_ kind of nice to get out of Sohma house for now and give her time to forget about the awful feelings that had nearly consumed her.

The following conversation over dinner was pretty one-sided, but it sort of worked in a way. Akito didn't really want to talk much so she was perfectly content to listen to Yuta do most of the speaking.

Yuta was pleased to find that Akito was eating more than she had been while living with his mother. She finished almost the entire meal and even ate a little bit of the dessert he ordered.

"Pardon me for a moment, I'm going to the restroom," he told her.

"Take your time," she answered quietly.

He had never seen her like this before, and he hated it. He wished that there was _something_ he could do to make her smile or at least not feel so upset.

Yuta was sure he hadn't been in the bathroom too long, but evidently, it was enough time for Akito to consume two drinks.

She turned to look at him, and he saw that her face was already really flushed.

"Hey, I got a couple drinks," she slurred. "Hope you don't mind."

"How did you possibly have enough time to drink both of these in the short amount of time I was gone?"

She laughed lightly, something he was sure he'd never seen her do, and got up from the chair. She stumbled a little, and he quickly moved to catch her before she fell.

"I can be quick if I want. You should have some too."

"Akito…are you _drunk_?"

"Maybe."

"Oh, boy. If Mom finds out about this, she just might kill me for real. Not to mention the things your family will do to me."

"Don't worry so much," she laughed as she lightly tapped him on the chest. "It's not like they can do anything without my say-so." She touched his chest again. "Ooh, that feels nice."

Yuta felt his face get hot but was silently thankful he had continued going to the gym frequently while attending university. "Okay, it's time to go."

"Wait, you need a drink too."

"Oh, no, one of us had better stay sober. Come on."

He left some money on the table to pay for their meals and then took Akito's hand before leaving the restaurant.

The tiny girl clearly couldn't hold her alcohol very well because she could barely walk once they were outside.

With a sigh, he knelt down a little. "Get on."

"Hm?"

"Get on my back, and I'll carry you home."

"I am perfectly capable…of walking back myself. I am Sohma, head of the Akito!"

Yuta pressed his lips together, trying not to bust out laughing. "Okay, Sohma, head of the Akito. There's no way you are getting home without help. Just get on. The quicker we get home, the quicker we can get that alcohol out of your system."

"No, I'm fine!"

Just seconds after the words left her lips, she fell against Yuta's back, most likely not of her own accord.

"Thank you."

Yuta put her arms around his neck before hooking his own arms under her legs and hefting her up.

She quietly moaned as he started walking, and he just hoped she didn't throw up on him.

Though the circumstances weren't ideal, he was pleasantly surprised to feel that she wasn't as stick-thin as the last time he had carried her.

She may feel depressed today, but at least her overall health had improved considerably.

Yuta banged on the Sohma main doors with his foot, prepared to bribe the answering servant into silence.

Fortune smiled upon him because it was Rina who opened the door.

"Hey, Rina," he smiled awkwardly.

Rina's eyes widened. "What on earth did you do to her?"

"Shh! Look, it wasn't my fault! She drank while I wasn't looking. I'm just going to put her to bed. Please, _please_ don't tell anyone about this. _Especially_ not my mother."

Rina laughed. "Your secret's safe with me. I'll help you get her to her room without any seeing you two."

"Bless you."

Rina stayed on guard and snuck the both of them back to Akito's room without any Sohmas or the servants noticing the head of the family passed out on a guy's back.

Yuta carefully set her down on her feet. "Akito, I need you to change out of your clothes, okay?"

Akito laughed. "Okay, but you first."

Rina snorted behind them.

Yuta's face got hot again at her implication. "No, I just mean you have to change into the yukata you usually sleep in. Rina will help you. I'm going to go get you some water."

Rina smirked as he started to leave and went to help the drunken Akito of her clothes.

Yuta returned with a glass of water and knocked on the shoji. "Is she decent?"

"Yeah, come in," Rina replied.

Yuta slid open the shoji and stepped inside. "Thanks a ton, Rina. I owe you one. I've got it from here."

"Okay, if you say so." She started to leave and leaned in close to his ear. "Don't think I am ever letting you forget this."

Yuta rolled his eyes as she left the room. He walked over to Akito and gently led her to her bed. "Here you go. Drink some water for me."

Akito took the glass and started sipping from it. "Water tastes so good."

Yuta smiled again. "I'm glad."

Once she finished the glass, he took it from her and set it aside.

"Now lie down and get some rest."

Akito lay down on the bed and patted the space beside her. "Aren't you getting in too?"

For the hundredth time that evening, Yuta's face warmed once again. "No. Just go to sleep, okay?"

"Will you stay with me until then?"

"Sure."

Akito closed her eyes.

Yuta gently slipped the blanket over her.

"You're nice to me," Akito mumbled half-asleep. "I like it."

He stayed for a little while longer until he was sure she had fallen asleep.

She looked so cute when she was sleeping.

As he looked at her slightly parted lips, he suddenly had an overwhelming urge to kiss her.

But they were just friends, weren't they? Friends didn't randomly want to kiss one another.

Who was he kidding?

He gently ran his hand through her jet-black hair several times. She moaned in her sleep and unconsciously moved closer to him. Yuta knelt down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Sleep well, Miss Sohma."


	18. Chapter 18

When Noa answered her door, she was surprised to find Kazuma standing next to Akito.

Kazuma gave her his usual warm smile, but she couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be an additional emotion there that she had never seen. Was he…smirking?

"With the curse broken, Akito and I are going to see Kyo's father," Kazuma said. "Would you like to come?"

Kyo's father? The one who had blamed him for his mother dying? The one who had made him so afraid to face him that he threw up from the nerves?

She smiled at them. "Oh, this is going to be so satisfying."

The three of them walked down to the place where Noa had been only weeks before with the very nervous Kyo. This time was going to be much different.

Kazuma greeted the maid at the door and then walked in.

"Hello, sir," he said politely though the aura around him said the exact opposite. "Now that the curse is broken, all bets are off."

Kyo's father immediately backed away from them. "What are you doing here? What makes you think you can just barge in here and—"

"Enough," Noa said firmly. "Now listen to me and listen good."

"Who even are you?"

"I'm Noa Kaneko. I was the one listening outside when Kyo came to see you to make amends only for you to yell at him and blame him for things that are not his fault."

"You aren't a Sohma! You have no right to judge me when you have no idea what I've been through!"

"I don't have to be a Sohma to know that Kyo does not deserve to be treated the way you and everyone else have treated him."

"He's a monster!"

"He's a _boy_! A boy who just got dealt a very unfortunate hand. You were his father. You were supposed to be the one who cared for him and protected him the most! All he ever wanted was to be accepted."

"Who could ever accept that monster?!"

" _Me_! I accepted him, curse and all. Like a _parent_ does. I came here to tell you that you are not to have any more interaction with Kyo. If he wants to reach out to you, fine, but you will not reach out to him. He is _my_ son now. And unlike you, I'm going to protect him with my life."

Behind her, Kazuma smiled. It was the first time she'd ever mentioned Kyo as her son, and he wasn't sure he had ever been happier.

Noa turned back around and started to go back over to Akito and Kazuma.

Kyo's father glared at her backside. "That freak deserves to be locked up for the rest of his natural life."

Noa clenched her jaw and tightened her fists. Then she spun around and clocked Kyo's father right in the jaw.

The man stumbled back in shock before falling to the floor.

Noa shook her hand. "Anyone ever tell you that you shouldn't talk bad about my kids?"

She walked out of the house as Kazuma fought down a laugh. He was pretty sure that he was in love with that woman.

Akito looked at Kyo's father on the floor. "You heard her. Kyo is free, and the Cat's Room is to be destroyed."

"You can't destroy that room! You can't! That boy—"

"That boy is not your son anymore."

"But—"

"And don't ever tell me what I'm supposed to do for my zodiac members."

Akito too walked out of the house.

Kazuma smiled down at the man. "Well, I suppose there's nothing left to be said, is there?"

* * *

"Why do you think Akito wanted us all here?" Kagura asked. "It's unusual for him to need us all together any time other than New Year's."

"Maybe it has to do with us all being released from the curse," Kyo said.

Hatori stepped inside the room. "Yuki, is Ayame almost here?"

"Yeah," Yuki answered. "He said he would be a little late. But then, what else is new?"

"It looks like everyone else has arrived at least."

"Do you know why we're here, Hatori?"

"Akito has something very important to share with all of you."

The door burst open to reveal a white-haired male. "No need to fret anymore, my darlings, your beloved cousin Ayame has arrived!"

Yuki rolled his eyes.

To his surprise, Noa peeked her head inside the room. "Hatori, is everyone here?"

"Yes," Hatori replied. "Is Akito ready?"

"Yes." Noa stepped inside the room to face the rest of the former zodiac members. "I know I'm not officially part of your family, but nevertheless, I would like to present to you…Miss Akito Sohma."

Akito stepped into the room wearing the same spaghetti-strap purple and pink dress she had worn both on her outing with Yuta and to the cherry blossom viewing with Noa. She had also pinned back some of her hair with a hair clip. There was no mistaking it. Akito was a woman.

"M-Miss… _Miss_ Akito?!" Kagura exclaimed.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Rin added.

Hatori, Shigure, Ayame, and Kureno made no reaction.

"Did you guys know about this?!" Kyo yelled as he pointed an accusing finger at the four of them.

"Why, of course we did," Ayame smiled. "We _are_ the oldest members of the zodiac. We know everything."

"…Why?" Kisa's small voice broke through. "Why did you hide this from everyone?"

Akito sighed as she looked at the small girl. How could she ever have hurt someone so young and delicate?

She slowly sat down on her knees in front of everyone. "I have done…some very terrible things to all of you. I'm very sorry for everything I've put you all through. From now on, you are free and you may do as you wish. While I will always hope that you will someday come back to me or at least visit now and then, I will no longer keep any of you tethered to me. You all may live your lives however you want."

No one could believe what they were hearing. Akito Sohma, a male who was actually a female, was _apologizing_ to them?

"I hid this from all of you because…I followed my mother and father's wishes for too long. But now, I choose to live as myself. Curse or no curse, I am still the head of the household and I will fulfill all of my responsibilities as such. I hope to be a better leader than I have been."

With a deep breath, Akito stood back up. She started towards the door and said something in Noa's ear before leaving the room.

Yuki looked at Noa in disbelief. "Wait a minute, Noa, _you_ knew about this too?"

"You really think Akito could stay at my house for an entire month and I wouldn't find out?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It wasn't for me to tell."

Yuki quieted. Deep down, he knew that and if he had been in her shoes, he would've done the same thing, but it still bothered him to think that all this time, Noa had known a huge secret about his own family that he wasn't even aware of.

Noa went over to Hatori. "She wants to see you first."

Hatori looked at her questioningly before following Akito out of the room.

He found her out in the estate garden nervously fiddling with a flower.

"That was very big of you to reveal your secret to everyone," he remarked.

Akito turned around to face him. He wasn't sure he had ever seen her look so remorseful. "Flowers are so delicate. With the tiniest amount of pressure, I can crush it completely. I never understood…that people are the same way."

Hatori didn't really know what to make of this conversation.

"Hatori…for everything that happened with Kana…I'm sorry. You were so happy with her, and I ruined it with just the simplest pressure. If I could, I would do anything in my power to bring you back together with her. But…it's my understanding that she has since married."

Hatori slowly went up to her and touched her shoulder. "I could never blame you before. Maybe a small part of me does now, but at the same time, if something like what happened was enough to break her so easily, maybe it wasn't meant to be. Maybe…what you did showed that our marriage could not last as long as the curse was upon us."

"How can you do that?" Akito asked tearfully. "How you can just pass it off so easily?"

"…I don't know."

He wrapped Akito into his arms. She gasped lightly in shock at the sudden action.

"But curse or not, I still care very deeply for you. I always will, Akito. I promise."

Akito could feel tears stinging her eyes. Even without the curse…he wasn't going to abandon her? Even after she had cost him his fiancée? Even after all of the things he had sacrificed because of her?

She didn't deserve his kindness.

She would make sure such a beautiful gift was not given in vain.

* * *

"Yuki," Noa said quietly. "Akito wants to talk to you."

Yuki stiffened at the thought of speaking with Akito. He wasn't even sure how to act now that he knew she was really a woman. But finding out she was a woman did not make her any less intimidating or erase any of the things she had done to him.

Noa noticed his change in posture and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'll be right in there with you."

Yuki relaxed a little and slowly made his way to Akito's room.

Once inside, Noa sat in the front corner so she was out of the way but still in Yuki's line of sight so he could feel a little sense of peace.

"Yuki…" Akito started slowly. "I'm…I'm sorry…for everything I put you through. It was no wonder why you always escaped to Noa's house. I only wish I had met her sooner so I could've understood why you liked her so much. Then maybe I wouldn't have caused you so much pain. Out of all the people I've hurt, I think I've wounded you the most. I wish I could take back all the things I've done to you…"

Yuki looked over at Noa who only watched the conversation as a silent third-party.

He sighed heavily and unclenched his fists, not even remembering tightening them in the first place.

"I don't forgive you," he stated.

Akito looked up at him crestfallen, not that she could blame him for the harsh words.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive you for everything that happened in the past."

She looked down again in shame.

"That being said…I'm willing to move forward from here."

Akito looked up again in surprise.

"So much of me wants to hate you for what you've done to me. I think the only reason I don't is because of Noa. She's given me everything you and my own mother neglected to give me in the first place. She gave me a home and some semblance of a real family. She taught me how to live. She taught me…how to move on. It will take a lot of time, but I will work to move forward if you will too."

Akito smiled, and it was the first time Yuki had not seen him…her smile with malicious intentions.

He realized that her smile could be incredibly reassuring if the moment was right. He too wished Noa had reached out to her before, if only to show her that it was possible for someone to love her for who she was so that she could've smiled like that much more often.

"Thank you, Yuki," she said softly. "I will move forward as well. And as for the black room…I'm destroying it along with the Cat's Room. No one will ever have to suffer in either of those places ever again."

Yuki hadn't expected to feel such relief at that news. Even after moving out of the main house, the threat of being locked up inside that small dark room always lingered over him and Akito usually made sure he knew it.

To know that it would be destroyed lifted a huge weight off his shoulders he hadn't even fully known was there.

"Thank you," he told her.

Noa smiled at the both of them.

It would be a long journey from here, and she wasn't sure the two of them would ever fully make amends, but at least they had taken a step in the right direction.

* * *

For the rest of the day, Akito spoke to each member of the zodiac individually and apologized for all her past wrongdoings.

Noa sat in on a couple of them if only to help keep the peace or provide silent reassurance for Akito who struggled talking to some of them. She had more to apologize for with a few members than others.

Noa had been right. A small 'I'm sorry' went a long way.

"How do you feel?" she asked Akito once the final apology was done.

"I don't know. Better, I think. I'm glad they know the truth about me now. But it will be very difficult for a while as I try to continue making amends."

"You did good today. I'm proud of you."

Akito would never get tired of hearing those words.

"I've gotta get home, okay? I'll stop by tomorrow if I can."

"Noa…thank you. For everything."

Noa gave Akito a tight hug. "You're welcome."

She went to leave the main estate when she noticed one of the former zodiac members sitting alone against one of the many trees lining the gate.

Noa slowly approached the teenage girl. "It's Rin, isn't it?"

The black-haired girl looked up to see who had spoken and then immediately looked down again. "Yeah."

"Is everything okay?"

Rin angrily looked back up at her. "What do you think? Akito made all of our lives a living hell and now just because she says she's sorry, everyone forgives her just like that?! What, are we just going to pretend that the last several years never happened?!"

Noa took a seat next to her. "No. It's not that simple, and Akito knows that. And while yes, some people have chosen to forgive her, not everyone has. Yuki refuses to forgive her, but he also chose to move forward with her."

"What if I don't _want_ to move forward? What if I _can't_ move forward?"

"No one expects you to. If you didn't ever want to see or speak to Akito ever again, no one would blame you including Akito herself. But let me tell you something. If you continue to hang on to all that hatred against her, you might end up becoming very similar to her."

"I'd never become like that witch."

"Hatred can do some ugly things to a person. You don't have to forgive her and you don't have to like her, but you do have to let it go or you'll just be miserable for the rest of your life."

Rin sighed heavily as she crossed her arms. "Whatever."

"You know, if you'd like, any member of the Sohma family is welcome to stay over at my house for a bit of a break from the complicated life you all live here. It's kind of become a safe haven for you guys."

"If Akito has stayed there, there's no way I'm setting foot in that place."

"Just think about it. You'd be amazed how relaxing it can be to be away from Sohma affairs for a while."

Rin got up and walked further into the estate. "You're a strange woman."

Noa laughed lightly. "So I've been told."

She left the main estate and finally returned home utterly exhausted. It had been quite the emotionally taxing day, even for her who was not part of the Sohma family.

When she walked in the door, she was surprised by who she found sitting on the couch.

"Yuta?" she said as she hung up her jacket. "When did you get in?"

"Uh, only a couple hours ago."

She came inside the living room to join him. "You okay?"

"I think I have problem," he told her, nervously rubbing his hands together.

"What's up?"

"I…I think I like Akito."

Noa smiled a little. "I was wondering when you were going to admit it."

"Wait, what?"

"You think I haven't seen how you are around her? I've known ever since you spent that day together at the beach."

"How did you know? _I_ didn't even know!"

"I'm your mother. I know everything."

Yuta rolled his eyes.

"So why is it a problem if you like her?"

"Well, I mean, it's…it's _Akito_!"

"And?"

"I started spending time with her because I just wanted to be friends with her. That's all."

Noa came on the couch to sit down next to him. "Sweetie, people don't usually choose who they fall in love with."

"I guess."

"She needs someone like you. Someone who will treat her like a princess, who won't leave her for a stupid reason, someone she can trust completely. But if you really want to be with her…you need to accept every part of her."

"I do."

"No, I mean _every_ part of her. Even the parts that…aren't that great."

"Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Oh, there's a lot I'm not telling you. Because you need to hear it from her not from me."

Yuta always knew there were things going on that he wasn't aware of, but hearing his mother stress accepting her so much really made him wonder what Akito was hiding from him.

"Well…you know everything about her. And you've accepted her. So I can too. Whatever this is may shock me, and I may have mixed feelings, but…I really care about her, Mom."

Noa gently rubbed his head. "I think she cares about you too."

* * *

"Hey, Akito," Yuta smiled when he entered her room. "I thought we'd take a walk through the garden this afternoon. It's such a nice day."

"Sure."

The two of them left the room and started to walk through the Sohma gardens.

"There's something I wanted to tell you," Yuta said to her.

Akito really hated it when people said that. It always made her mind wander in a thousand different directions as she tried to guess what they were going to say. "What is it?"

"Well, uh…I've spent a lot of time with you over the past few months, and I've loved every single moment of it. And, well, what I'm trying to say is…Akito, I really like you. I mean…I like you as more than a friend."

Akito didn't say anything for a while, and Yuta wondered if he had completely freaked her out.

Finally, she looked straight at him. "Why do you like me?"

Yuta hadn't expected that question and didn't immediately reply.

Why _did_ he like her? He hadn't really thought about the reasons. He just knew that he liked her.

Of course, he couldn't just say that.

"I like you…because you're so beautiful. You're very easy to talk to when you're not yelling at me. I really enjoy spending time with you whether it be at the beach or just getting dinner together."

Akito didn't say anything again which started to worry him. He wanted her to return his affections, but there was a huge chance that she wouldn't and he wasn't sure what they would do then.

Akito took a deep breath. "I'm going to tell you everything about me. And some of it may sound crazy and impossible, but everything I'm about to say is the truth. If you don't believe me, you can just ask your mother because she saw it all firsthand."

"Okay."

And so Akito launched into the entire story about the Sohma family. She told him about the zodiac curse, what it did to select members of her family, and her own role in the whole thing. She told him about the terrible things she did to them because of their bond and how she never truly cared for anyone except herself. She told him about her mother, the things she had made her suffer through, and why she had forced her to grow up as a man.

She told him about how Noa had helped her to understand that she was wrong and how she had found a mother in her.

When she finished explaining everything, Yuta remained very quiet.

"So let me ask you again," she said softly. "Why do you like me?"

Yuta tried to process everything she had just told him. He didn't doubt her sanity, but she was right. It all sounded impossible. At the same time, it also explained some things, such as the white rat he once saw running through the house and his mother not throwing a fit when she caught the rodent with her own hands.

He felt really angry when she told him all the things she had done to Yuki as a child. He had grown to love the boy like a younger brother and to know that he had been through such awful things at her hand made him pretty upset.

If she hadn't told him how they had slowly begun to patch things up, he wasn't sure he would still have feelings for her.

But then…hearing what her own mother put her through…how could someone do that to their own child? Growing up with Noa for a mom, it was shocking to hear how her mother was basically the complete opposite of his.

Noa had told him that he needed to accept every part of Akito, and he guessed this was what she meant. Akito had a lot of history that he needed to deal with if he wanted to be with her.

He looked back at the girl in front of him. "I like you…because you're so beautiful. You're very easy to talk to. I like spending time with you." He took a step towards her and took her hands in his. "I like you…because you were able to let go of the thing you cared about most in order to make others happy even though it killed you inside. I like you because you can admit when you're wrong, and you work hard to fix it. I like you because you can overcome anything. And a girl like that is one I could easily end up falling in love with."

Akito felt like she was about to cry, but at the same time, she was far too happy to let any tears fall from her eyes.

She had always wondered if she would find someone who accepted her for who she was and all the things she had done.

She knew that she could trust Yuta to protect her and stay by her side. If she did something wrong, he would never do something in retaliation just to hurt her like Shigure had.

She looked up at him with earnest eyes. "The head of the Sohma household is supposed to be with someone from inside the family."

Yuta's face fell.

"But we've followed tradition long enough."

And then she stepped forward and she kissed him.

Yuta wrapped his arms around her waist while she encircled his neck. He ran his hand through her black hair as he deepened the kiss with her.

He hadn't realized that he wanted to kiss her so much until her lips were on his. Suddenly, he never wanted to stop. He wanted to kiss her forever. He wanted to hold her and kiss her and show her that everything she had been through didn't matter anymore because she had him.

Akito pulled back and rested her forehead against his. "I like you too…"

Yuta ran his thumb across her cheek, feeling her beautiful soft skin beneath it.

"Hold me," Akito whispered.

Yuta put his arm beneath her legs and pulled her up into his arms.

Akito tightened her hold on him and kissed him once again.

If she had loved being carried before, being held and kissed by one she adored was a thousand times better.


	19. Chapter 19

_One Year Later_

"It's been a while since you've taken me out somewhere so fancy," Akito remarked.

Yuta looked across the table at his girlfriend, silently admiring her lacy black knee-length dress.

She had grown her hair out over the last year. It now came three or four inches below her shoulders. She never let it go any longer because then she started to resemble her mother which was the last thing she ever wanted.

"You've barely eaten anything. Are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Yuta smiled, hoping she couldn't tell he was lying.

"You're lying."

 _Shoot…_

"After all this time…you'd think I'd be used to how beautiful you are. But you still reduce me to a puddle."

Akito had a feeling that wasn't what he was nervous about, but she blushed all the same.

Yuta got up from his seat. "Shall we?"

Akito smiled as she took his hand and he helped her out of her chair.

He led her over to the small dance floor at the side of the restaurant. A beautiful slow melody played from the live band in the corner.

Yuta put his hands on Akito's waist while she put hers around his neck, and they slowly started to sway together to the music.

She never knew that it was possible for someone to love her as much as Yuta did. She had always thought that Shigure or Kureno were the best she would ever get, but she was so wrong. While both men had always treated her well enough, with Yuta, their relationship was completely different. Shigure and Kureno had only stayed with her because of their bond, and while Shigure would never fully admit it, his feelings for her had indeed changed once the curse was broken.

That didn't stop him from remaining extremely icy towards both Kureno and Yuta for taking Akito away from him. Shigure hated losing almost as much as Akito did. But Yuta never seemed to mind and put up with everything Shigure threw his way. Akito was fairly certain the reason Shigure never went too far was because he knew full well that what Noa would to do him should he hurt her son really, _really_ wasn't worth it.

Yuta rarely ever got angry with her, and he never purposefully hurt her. They had had their bumps along the way, but he always managed to help them come together and make amends, no matter who was at fault.

She felt as if she had won the lottery by being together with him.

"You look so beautiful tonight," Yuta said quietly. "But then, you look beautiful every night."

"Thanks."

"Did Mom help you pick out that dress?"

"Of course she did. You know I'm terrible at shopping for clothes."

Yuta laughed.

"How are she and Kazuma?"

"They're doing wonderfully. I have to admit, though, it's kind of weird for me and my mother to be dating at the same time. It's also kind of weird we're both dating someone from the Sohma family."

"Well, my family is so huge that it's more likely for the both of you to date Sohmas than to not."

"Good point."

"I'm glad she's so happy with him. If anyone deserves someone like that, it's Noa."

"I agree, she couldn't be with anyone better. They're practically inseparable."

"Like us?"

"Exactly like us."

Akito let them dance together in silence for several moments before she asked, "Is there a reason you've gone all out tonight? Did something happen?"

"Come with me."

Yuta took her hand and led her to the garden outside the restaurant. Lights hung over the entire space that beautifully lit up all of the various plants and decorations.

"I love you so much," Yuta told her as they walked the path.

"I love you too."

"It feels like we've been together for much longer than a year. It's hard to remember what life was like without you."

Akito blushed again.

He stopped at the center of the garden in a large circular opening and took both of her hands in his.

"You are everything to me," he said quietly as he stroked a strand of her black hair. "When I think about my future, it always has you in it. I want to grow old with you."

"Yuta…"

"So what do you say?" He took a ring out of his pocket for her to see. "Will you marry me?"

Akito gasped at the sight of the beautiful jewel in front of her.

She smiled broadly at him. "I couldn't see myself marrying anyone else."

Yuta laughed and slipped the ring onto her finger. "I love you, Akito Sohma."

"And I love you, Yuta Kaneko."

Yuta took her head in his hands and gently kissed his new fiancée.

His mind took him back to just last week when he had visited the main house.

* * *

 _"Um…Hatori?"_

 _Hatori turned to the door. "Oh, Yuta." He got a good look at the young man and stood up from his chair. "You look terrible. Are you sick? Should I take a look at you?"_

 _Yuta smiled nervously. "No, no, I'm fine, I'm just…nervous."_

 _"About what?"_

 _"Well, uh…I know that it is customary to ask the father and mother for permission, but…that is a bit complicated in this family."_

 _Hatori raised an eyebrow when he guessed where this conversation was heading._

 _"I…really, really love Akito. And since I can't ask her father or mother, I would like to ask you since you are the Sohma who has cared for her the most throughout her life."_

 _He swallowed thickly._

 _Hatori couldn't help but crack a small smile at just how nervous he was._

 _"May I…ask Akito to marry me?"_

 _The young doctor walked over to him. "Yuta, coming here to ask me of all people for permission shows amazing character. I have no doubt your love for her is genuine. And I wouldn't allow Akito to marry anyone else."_

 _Yuta let out a relieved laugh._

 _Hatori lightly hugged him. "Welcome to the family."_

 _When Yuta left Hatori's office, he ended up running into Yuki._

 _The boy had been spending a lot more time at the main house over the course of the last year to continue making amends with the rest of the family. It was a slow road, but he was trying, and that was what was most important._

 _"Oh, Yuki, I'm glad you're here," he said. "I want to talk to you."_

 _"What is it?"_

 _"There's something really important I have to ask you since it's only right that the person who's like my little brother knows what's going on."_

 _Yuki smiled shyly, still unused to being referred to as Yuta's brother._

 _"It's been about a year since I started dating Akito, and things are going perfectly. I love her very much. So I would like to ask her to marry me. Is that…okay with you?"_

 _Yuki had not been prepared for that statement. Two years ago, he would have vehemently denied that Yuta ever be involved with Akito in any way, shape, or form._

 _However, ever since last year when she had confessed her true gender to everyone, things had been drastically different between them. He was still wary around her, and healing for everything she had done to him wasn't going to happen in such a short amount of time. But they had come a long way, and they were continuously patching things up._

 _Besides, he knew how happy Yuta was with her and how happy Akito was with him. Yuta had helped her open up again and learn to accept things she didn't like. He had helped her become the kind of person who had been the one to request that she and Yuki start making amends in the first place._

 _Who was he to deny them that happiness?_

 _Yuki smiled at him. "Yeah, I'm okay with it. I hope she says yes."_

 _Yuta laughed and hugged him. "Me too."_

* * *

The bell above the door to the shop rang as the door opened and closed.

"Welcome, my darling customer!" the white-haired man exclaimed. "You've made one step—"

He abruptly stopped when he saw who had come into his shop.

"Hello, Ayame."

"Akito."

Mine stepped out of the back room. "Who is it, boss?"

Akito smiled kindly at Ayame's wife. "Hello, Mine."

"Oh, hiya, Akito!"

Ayame stepped forward. "What brings you to my shop?"

"Yuta proposed to me last night."

Both Ayame and Mine's eyes sparkled and they ran up to her, each of them taking one of her hands.

Akito tried to suppress her irritation. She had come a long way over the last year when it came to repairing the damaged relationships with her family, but she didn't think she would ever get used to Ayame's overzealous personality.

And now, with him marrying Mine, there were two of them…

"He did?!" Mine exclaimed. "You said yes, didn't you?"

"Of course I did."

"Congratulations, my darling," Ayame gushed. "But surely you didn't come all the way here just to tell us that."

"No, I…have a request."

"Oh, just name it! Anything you wish shall be yours!"

"Will you…design my wedding dress?"

Ayame flipped his long hair over his shoulder. "Why, it's only appropriate that I, your most perfect cousin, design the dress for the happiest day of your life. Just you wait, darling. I shall make something that even a goddess would be jealous of. Mine will take your measurements, and we'll get started immediately. Mine, dearest, put a hold on the maid uniform for that one gentleman. This is much more important."

"Sure thing!"

Mine ushered Akito over to the large three-way mirror and took out her tape measure. Then she proceeded to take all of the necessary measurements needed to create the appropriately sized dress.

"I don't know how you put up with him," Akito mumbled.

Mine laughed warmly. "Not everyone can, that's for sure. I guess I just know how to handle him in my own special way."

"Mine…is marriage…difficult?"

"Well, any relationship takes some work. Sure, there are some really tough moments, but in the long run, it's all worth it. Especially when your husband adores you as much as Yuta does."

Akito smiled as she looked down at the sparkling ring. "I shouldn't be so nervous about the whole thing."

"Don't you worry. Once you get to that day and you see him waiting for you, all your worries will disappear in an instant. And we'll make you look so beautiful for the wedding that Yuta will have no other thought than how lucky he is to be marrying you."

"Mine, I'm truly glad that Ayame has you. He's very lucky himself."

"He is, isn't he?"

Both women laughed.

* * *

Noa walked into the main house to meet with the one woman Akito had never let her see before.

Her mother, Ren Sohma.

Ren lived at the main estate and she had for as long as they all could remember. Unlike with Shima, it was harder to throw her out of the main house considering she was the wife of the previous head of the family.

The Sohma reputation would take a huge hit if anyone found out that she had been expelled from the grounds, no matter how terrible of a person she was.

So unfortunately, the venomous woman had to stay on the estate. What Akito could do was keep her locked away inside her room with servants continuing to attend to her.

Akito had attempted to somewhat make amends with her as well, but Ren had pushed away every single one of those attempts. It disgusted Noa just how much this woman despised her own flesh and blood.

Noa knocked on the shoji before pulling it back.

The woman inside turned to look at her.

Noa immediately saw that Shigure's words were true. She really did look like an older version of Akito. Her long jet-black hair flowed all the way down to the floor she sat on, and she wore a long spaghetti-strap dress that revealed more of her breasts than Noa wanted to see.

"I've never seen you before," Ren smirked. "No one in this dreadful place lets me meet new people. Rather cruel, I think. Who might you be?"

"It's finally time for us to meet, Ren Sohma. I am Noa Kaneko."

"Ah, so you're Noa. I've heard so many people talking about you. Including that stupid girl who I have the misfortune of calling my daughter."

Noa sucked in a breath. This was going to be harder than she thought. She had never wanted to claw someone's face off so much. Unfortunately, Ren wasn't like Kyo's father. If Noa did anything physically, Ren would probably just be amused and start laughing which would only make Noa more upset.

"So why choose to meet me now of all times?" Ren continued to smirk. "It's my impression that you've been coming here for two years."

"Akito never wanted me to talk to you which was probably more for your safety rather than hers or mine. I wondered if you had heard the news that Akito is going to be marrying my son."

"What fool would ever want to marry that pathetic girl?"

"I would be careful about how you refer to my son. He is a very good man who will treat her well. I could not be happier that the two of them have chosen to spend their lives together."

"You really believe a marriage like that will last? No one would want to stay with that girl for very long. Besides, she's hardly marriage material."

"I don't see how you would know that seeing as you were hardly involved in raising her. Nevertheless, they've developed a very strong relationship over the last year, and they love one another very dearly. I've watched them grow together, and I have no doubt that they will continue to stay together for the rest of their lives."

Ren's smirk grew crueler. "And you feel the need to tell me all of this…why?"

"Because I wanted you to be aware that this marriage will officially make me Akito's mother. And as her mother, I forbid you to have any further contact with her. I will not allow you to poison her mind any longer."

"I never wanted that brat to begin with, so that is fine with me. My darling Akira was the only thing I ever wanted. He loved me more than that girl. I made sure of that. I made sure I was always number one in his heart. I was all he ever needed."

Noa crossed her arms. "Hm…you know, he treasured Akito a good deal seeing as she was the god of the zodiac."

"Ugh, that all was a fake legend created to make the stupid girl feel like she was worth something."

"Well, she certainly wasn't going to get that from you. Regardless of whether it was true or not, and it most certainly was, Akira firmly believed in it, didn't he? Hm…I wonder what Akira might think of you now if he knew how horribly you treated his precious child over the years…" She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess we'll never know."

Ren's smirk abruptly disappeared and she frowned. "He would still love me. He only ever loved me."

Noa went to the door and turned to face her with a smirk. "Maybe, maybe not. Who knows?"

She slammed the shoji behind her hearing Ren scream out, "He would've loved me! I know it! He only loved me!"

Noa smiled to herself. While she still wanted nothing more than to maul the horrible woman, leaving her with the planted idea about her husband that would only continue to fester would work well enough.

* * *

Akito ran around her home making more wedding preparations as the big day drew nearer and nearer. She didn't understand how women handled all this. Planning for this event was the most stressful thing she had ever done which was saying a lot considering she was the head of a huge family and had been the god of the zodiac, both of which presented stressful situations in their own right.

If it wasn't for her bridesmaids, Kagura, Arisa, Saki, even Rin who had mostly made up with her, and her wonderful maid of honor, Tohru, she might've yanked all of her black hair out of her head by this point.

"Akito."

Akito turned at the familiar deep voice. "What is it, Hatori?"

"I…I need to speak with you about something. It's important."

Knowing Hatori was not one to overdo things, whatever he wanted must really be vital for him to interrupt her planning. Not to mention that he sounded really nervous and Hatori was never nervous.

"All right," she stated. "What is it?"

"Let us speak in here."

He led her to one of the rooms in the main house. When they stepped inside, Akito saw Mayuko—Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo's previous teacher and Hatori's current girlfriend—kneeling in the back of the room. She had been dating Hatori for the last several months, and Akito was overjoyed that he found someone he cherished so much after she had ruined his relationship with Kana.

While Akito moved to the front of the room, Hatori left her side and kneeled down in front of her.

"Akito…I wish to marry Mayuko Shiraki."

Akito couldn't believe what she was hearing. After everything that had happened in the past, he still came to her for permission to marry?

That explained why the normally stoic man looked so nervous in front of her.

Akito took a deep breath. She refused to let history repeat itself in any way.

"Mayuko," she said gently but firmly. "Please stand up."

Mayuko nervously did so. Akito could see Hatori tense up even further which made her feel guilty all over again. He was only this nervous because of what she had done to him the last time he had asked her this question.

Still, it meant a lot that he had continued to come to her with it. She would make sure it was not for nothing.

"Do you promise to stay by Hatori's side, no matter what may happen to him in the future? Even if things get very hard, if things happen that you can't explain, will you stay next to him?"

"Now and forever," Mayuko replied.

Akito looked down at Hatori still kneeling in front of her. "Hatori, do you promise the same?"

"Yes," Hatori answered.

Akito smiled at them. "Then I have no reason to object. You have my blessing."

Hatori let out a relieved chuckle and stood up as Mayuko came to stand next to him. "Thank you, Akito."

"I just have one request."

"Anything."

"Please let me deal with one wedding at a time."

* * *

Later that evening, Akito slowly entered Hatori's office. "Hatori?"

Hatori smiled at her. He hadn't stopped smiling ever since he had been given permission to marry Mayuko.

"I'm glad you and Mayuko are so happy," she told him. "You deserve that more than anyone."

"Thank you for granting us your permission to marry."

"I, um, wanted to ask something."

"All right."

"Out of everyone in the Sohma family, you were always the one to look after me the most. And maybe it was all simply because of the curse, but…regardless, you know me better than anyone. And not just because you've been my doctor and know every single intimate and embarrassing detail about me."

Hatori chuckled softly, not really understanding where this was going.

"So I wanted to ask you…will you be the one to walk me down the aisle at my wedding?"

Hatori smiled fondly. "It would be an honor."

Akito smiled back at him as he came up to envelop her into a tight and fatherly hug.

* * *

Yuta and Akito walked inside the cemetery because Yuta wanted Akito to meet his father.

"Hi, Dad," he said quietly when he approached the gravesite. "I brought someone with me."

Akito stepped up to stand next to him.

"This is Akito Sohma, my fiancée. I wish you were here to see her. She's the most perfect woman in the entire world."

Akito blushed. "Mr. Kaneko, Yuta and Noa talk about you so often that even though we never met, I feel like I know you. I promise to look out for your son every day. I hope that we can have your blessing on our marriage."

"I miss you, Dad," Yuta said softly. "But thanks for looking out for me and Mom. Now look after my future wife too."


	20. Chapter 20

Noa came into the room where Akito was finishing up the preparations for her big day.

"Akito, you look so beautiful," she smiled when she saw the girl dressed in her strapless wedding dress. "Ayame really outdid himself with this one."

Mine adjusted the veil on her head. "My husband is a man of many talents."

"Yuta is so lucky!" Tohru gushed. "You both are!"

Akito looked back in the mirror and admired herself, her heart pounding in her chest. "Thank you, Tohru. I hope he feels the same way."

"I have no doubt he does," Noa assured her. "All right, bridesmaids, I will need some time alone with the bride, so if you please…"

All of the girls politely exited the room. Mine followed suit after making the final adjustments to Akito's dress.

"I am unbelievably happy for the two of you," Noa smiled.

Akito's face flushed. "Noa…what if something goes wrong?"

"We have everyone working to make sure today goes smoothly for you."

"No, not just today. But…what if something goes wrong in our marriage? What if he realizes I'm not the girl he wants? What if he ends up not loving me anymore?"

Noa gently took her hands. "Akito, when Yuta wants something, he will work tirelessly for it. When he gets it, he will do whatever it takes to hold onto it. And when he was dating you, I've never seen him work so hard to hold onto something. You are the most precious thing to him, and I promise that he will hold onto you for the rest of his life."

Akito smiled a little. She still felt nervous, but those words did give her some peace of mind.

Noa lightly tucked a loose strand of hair behind Akito's ear. "You have come such a long way since I first met you. I am extremely proud of you."

"I'm glad that…I'm able to call you my mother from now on."

"You've always been my daughter. This just makes it official."

Noa lightly kissed her on the forehead before tightly hugging her.

"Thank you…for never giving up on me," Akito said quietly.

Noa pulled back and took her hand. "Come on. We mustn't keep your future husband waiting."

* * *

Since Akito was the head of such a large family, the wedding was an incredibly huge affair. There were people there that even members of the former zodiac had never met or even knew were part of the family.

Hatori walked her down the aisle and gave her away once the ceremony began. Yuki and some of Yuta's friends from college stayed at Yuta's side as his groomsmen.

The second Yuta saw Akito in her wedding dress, he began to cry. She looked so very beautiful and it was hard to believe that she was about to be his completely. He loved her so much, and he felt like the luckiest man on the face of the earth. He didn't know what he did to deserve her.

Noa watched with tears in her eyes as the two young people she treasured so dearly came together as one.

Once the ceremony was over, everyone attended a reception filled with music and dancing. Akito and Yuta shared their first dance as husband and wife in addition to dancing with Hatori and Noa respectively.

At one point during the evening, Kureno pulled Akito aside away from the music.

"You look beautiful," he smiled.

"Thank you," Akito smiled back.

"Yuta sure is a lucky guy."

"Kureno…I know I caused you a lot of pain in the past, but I do really do appreciate everything you did for me. I'm sorry I tried to hold on for so long."

"It took a lot of courage for you to let go. For both of us to let go. But you did, and look what happened. You're happier than you ever have been."

"And you are too. Arisa's been telling me how much she enjoys being together with you."

Kureno smiled fondly. "I love her very much."

Akito smiled again as she hugged him. "You're a good man, Kureno."

From the side of the room, Yuki watched Akito dance and celebrate with the rest of their friends and family. A small part of him deep down resented Akito for being so happy. Why should she get to be so joyful after everything she had done?

The rest of him knew he was being ridiculous. Akito had worked tirelessly to make amends with everyone, especially him, and he knew very well that she wasn't faking. She had fully admitted she had been wrong and tried desperately to somehow make up for it all.

There were days he felt like it would never be enough and other days where he just wished his life wasn't so complicated.

Akito looked over at her beloved cousin. Noticing his distraught look, she slowly walked over to him and held out her hand.

"Will you…dance with me, Yuki?"

It took a moment for Yuki to process the words leaving her lips. Then he ever so slowly put his hand into her awaiting palm.

The two of them walked out onto the dance floor.

Akito let out a small chuckle as they began to dance. "You're so much taller than me now."

Yuki smiled awkwardly, not fully knowing how to react. It seemed like the person he danced with now and the person who had hurt him in the past were two completely different people. In a way, they were.

"Yuki…I know you probably have mixed feelings about this whole thing. I'm sorry it's that way, and I take full responsibility for it."

"Yuta makes you happy. And I know him. He wouldn't marry you if he didn't think you were a good person and working to change."

"I feel like I don't deserve him. He's far, far too good for me. But it all works. We help each other to be better people. I can only hope that you find someone who does the same for you."

"I…think I already have."

Akito smiled a little. "That's wonderful. I'm very happy for you."

Just a few years ago, if Yuki had confessed that he was in love with someone, Akito would've beaten the life out of him. And now here she was with a husband of her own and fully supporting her former zodiac members in whatever their paths were.

The song started to draw to a close.

"Hey, Yuki…I don't know if this helps, but…you tower over me so much now that even if I did try anything, you could easily overpower me. You're not the victim I once turned you into. You're strong and good-natured and I think you're going to do some really wonderful things in the near future."

Yuki couldn't believe everything he was hearing. Even after all this time of working to rebuild the extremely damaged relationship between them, she still managed to say things that completely caught him off-guard.

"Thanks," he said with a small smile. "And congratulations."

Towards the end of the night, Noa and Kazuma walked arm-in-arm along the gardens away from the rest of the festivities for a little peace and quiet.

She and Kazuma had been dating just as long as Akito and Yuta had. And she couldn't have been happier with him. He was the perfect gentleman in everything he did…with the exception of cooking. He was still terrible at that despite all of Noa's attempts to teach him.

But he made up for it in every other area of their relationship. He was very respectful of her past marriage and went as slow as she desired. It had taken them some time to get where they were simply because she never wanted to disrespect Kei. Over time, she learned to move on and accept Kazuma more readily as a part of her romantic life.

Yuta, of course, supported them all the way.

"I'm so happy for them," Noa remarked. "They've come a long way."

"They certainly have. I'm pretty sure a lot of us believed that Akito was never going to marry. And if you hadn't come into her life, she probably wouldn't have. Everyone would still be under the curse."

"You have Yuki to thank. He's the one who stopped by my house all those years ago."

"Well, I certainly am very grateful."

Noa smiled as he gently kissed her.

"You know, all this wedding stuff has gotten me thinking," Kazuma stated quietly.

"Oh?"

"Neither of us are getting any younger. And I love you so much. I want to be by your side for the rest of our lives. I've already spoken with Kyo and Yuta about it. So, if it's all right with you, Noa Kaneko, will you be my wife?"

Noa turned to face him and pressed her hand to the side of his face. "I would love that."

Kazuma kissed her deeply, and Noa felt on top of the world.

* * *

Yuta tightly clasped Akito's hand as they approached the small home they had rented for the next week.

"I can safely say that this has been the happiest day of my life," Yuta remarked. "I must be the luckiest man in the world."

"I know I'm the luckiest woman in the world. I did nothing to deserve you and you chose me anyway."

Yuta kissed his beautiful bride. "I love you so much, Akito."

"I love you too."

The groom scooped his bride into his arms as she laughed and he carried her into the house. They began kissing fervently while he slowly walked up the stairs with her. Passion growing, Yuta quickly closed the bedroom door behind them.

* * *

Kazuma and Noa entered the cemetery and walked to Kei's grave.

Though Noa had said it wasn't necessary, Kazuma insisted that he wanted to visit the man who had meant so much to her.

Kazuma politely kneeled in front of the grave to pay his respects.

"Mr. Kaneko, I'm terribly sorry you left this earth so soon. You've been greatly missed. While I would never set out to replace you, I love Noa very much and I am making a promise to you that I will protect and care for her from now until the day I die. I hope we can have your blessing."

Noa could feel tears forming in her eyes. She wasn't sure that Kazuma could be a better man if he tried.

She knelt down next to him. "I wish you were here to see how your son has grown. You would be so proud of him and our new daughter-in-law. I can only imagine how much you would've fawned over her and spoiled her rotten. While I too am not seeking to replace you, I'm glad I have Kazuma in my life to protect me. Please watch over the both of us."

Both of them lifted up silent prayers to Noa's late husband asking for him to bless their future marriage and to continue to watch over them in the days to come.

"You know," Noa said quietly to Kazuma, "that time I was trapped in the Cat's Room, I asked Kei to help someone find me. And the next day…it was you who came searching for me. Maybe that was his way of saying he approved."

Kazuma smiled at her. "I certainly hope so."

* * *

Kyo walked out of the main house where he had met with Akito to explain to her his plans to travel to a dojo with Tohru in order to train. To his surprise, he found Noa waiting for him with a warm smile.

It was hard to believe that in just a couple weeks, she was going to technically be his mother and harder still to believe that Kazuma had found someone to love after all this time.

But if his adoptive father was going to be with anyone, he didn't want it to be anyone but Noa who had done nothing but show him all the motherly love and acceptance he had been craving his entire life.

"Hi!" she said with a bright smile. "Ready to head out?"

"You didn't have to come all the way out here. I could've walked back by myself."

"I know, but that's no fun."

A group of middle-aged women nearby quietly began whispering to themselves loud enough for the both of them to hear their conversation. Noa didn't know if that was intentional or not, but she didn't like what she was hearing.

"Can you believe Akito is just letting the Cat do whatever he wants?"

"I heard he's the reason his mother died. He doesn't deserve to live a normal life."

"He even has a girlfriend now. How sick must that girl be to choose _him_?"

Noa clenched her jaw.

"Just forget it," Kyo said quietly. "They've always been like that."

He had had to put up with that garbage his entire life? Well, that was going to end today.

Noa turned around and faced the group of women as she took a few steps towards them. "Hey!" she called. "Don't you _dare_ talk about my son like that."

Kyo's heart thumped a little. She had called him…her son.

"You have something to say, you can say it to my face. Anything else you'd like to add?"

One of the women smirked. "Please, he's not even your biological son."

Noa held her hands up. "Oh, so because he's not my biological son, I can't care about him? Because he's not my biological son, I can't feel like a mother to him? Because he's not my biological son, I can't protect him from people like you?" She took another step forward. "Blood doesn't make a family. He is my son, whether you like it or not. And I don't want to hear you talking about him like that ever again. Do I make myself clear?"

She turned around and started back towards an absolutely stunned Kyo.

"Oh, one more thing," she called back. "I don't know if you knew this, but my son, and since you're so concerned about this, my _biological_ son, was the one who married Akito last month. Which _technically_ makes me Akito's mother. I wonder what Akito, you know, the head of the entire Sohma family, would do if she knew how you were talking to her own mother."

A flash of fear crossed over each woman's face and they all quickly left Noa's presence.

Noa smirked and walked back over to Kyo.

"That was awesome," Kyo remarked.

"No one ever accused me of not protecting my kids. And it's not like Akito would do anything. But they don't need to know that. Come on, let's go home."

Kyo didn't know what to think. _No one_ had ever stood up for him like that before. Sure, Kazuma and Tohru loved him to death, but they were both soft-spoken and extremely non-confrontational. He had never had someone actually call out the people who spoke so poorly about him.

If Kyo hadn't been sure about having Noa as a mother before, he was sure now. He may have hated her at first, but now, he couldn't imagine not having her in his life.

* * *

Kazuma and Noa married in a very small, private ceremony at the Sohma main house. Noa had Ayame design her a simple white dress that came down to her knees. Or…at least as simple as someone like Ayame could design.

All the members of the zodiac attended in addition to Kunimitsu from Kazuma's dojo and of course, Yuta.

Once the ceremony was over and everyone began taking part in the after-wedding party, Noa walked up to Akito.

"Congratulations!" Akito smiled as she hugged her mother-in-law.

"Thank you. And how's my grandchild?"

Akito rubbed her enlarged stomach. "Wonderful."

"Have you found out the gender yet?"

"Not yet. We're hoping to find out within the next couple weeks. Hatori hasn't been able to get a clear enough picture when we do the ultrasound."

"But things have been going well?"

"Yes, it's been a very smooth pregnancy. And Yuta's been really good about helping me out."

"That's so good to hear."

"Noa…Yuta and I were discussing it last night, and…regardless of what the gender is, we would like to name the baby Kei."

Noa smiled. "It's perfect."

Akito suddenly gasped and her eyes widened.

"What's wrong?"

"I…I just felt a kick."

"Really?"

With a small smile, Akito took Noa's hand and put it to her stomach.

Noa's eyes widened as well as she looked up at the proud mother. Just beneath her hand, she felt the little child inside moving.

Both women laughed with pure joy.

Tears filled Akito's eyes as she rubbed her stomach. "I spent so much time growing up destroying other people's lives. I didn't think I would ever…be able to create one."

Noa gently put her hand to Akito's face. "That was the old you. You are a brand new person who is going to be a great mother."

"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. I can only hope that I'm half the mother you are to Yuta…and to me."

"I have no doubt you will be. And you'll have so many people to help you out that Kei is going to be utterly spoiled."

"You know, I…I asked Yuki if he would be the godfather."

"Really? What did he say?"

"He…he said yes."

"That's great!"

"There's still a bit of tension between us, but we've been working really hard to move forward just like we promised we would. He just introduced me to his girlfriend, Machi, last month."

"She's a sweet girl, isn't she?"

"Yes, and the two of them make an adorable couple. It meant a lot to me that he allowed me to meet her. I think it was his way of showing me that he's somewhat accepted who I've become."

"I'm glad you're both on better terms."

Kazuma came up behind Noa and put his arm around her. "I hope I'm not interrupting."

"No, we were just catching up."

Yuta joined them as well.

"Yuta, feel this!" Akito said excitedly. She put Yuta's hand onto her belly and slowly moved it around until he could feel the movement inside.

Yuta gasped and laughed. "I just felt my baby kick!" he announced proudly.

Noa smiled fondly. It was so incredible to see her beautiful boy grow up into such a wonderful man and husband with a child of his own on the way.

As she looked at her new husband by her side and her son and daughter in front of her, she knew that life could not get much better than this.

And all because a sick eight-year-old boy who longed for a family had just happened to stumble by her house all those years ago

* * *

 **Thank you all for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed seeing Yuki and Akito having a "Mama Bear" to protect them. It was so much fun to write about not just Akito and Yuki's growth, but Noa's and Yuta's as well.**

 **Farewell, Fruits Basket fans! :)**


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